PSYCHOSYNTHESIS QUARTERLY

The Digital Magazine of the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis

Volume 5 Number 4 December 2016 Balancing Our Lopsided Brain - Molly Brown Assagioli’s Reflections on the Poor Man of Assisi - Catherine Ann Lombard A Contrasting Explanation of the Significance of Dreams - Al Marcetti GPS: G-d’s Positioning System - Jill Becker Social Education or Mass Therapy? - Ewa Bialek The Developmental Theory of Psychosynthesis - Kenneth Sørensen Psychosynthesis at School 1964-1981 - Isabelle Küng Articles by Shamai Currim, Alexandra Ratcliffe Poems by C’Anne Chevalier and LauraLee Clinchard The Synthesis Center Moving to Vermont Synthesis SF in SanFrancisco Events in New York, New Zealand and online and more . . .

1 Psychosynthesis Quarterly contents Balancing Our Lopsided Brain - Molly Brown 3 Editor: Jan Kuniholm Events in New Zealand 5 Assistant Editors: Audrey McMorrow, Walter Polt, and Douglas Russell Two Poems by C’Anne Chevalier 7 Design and Production: Good-bye Yellow Brick Road - Shamai Currim 8 Jan Kuniholm, Walter Polt The Synthesis Center Literally On the Move 9 Psychosynthesis Quarterly is published by Assagioli’s Reflections on The Poor Man of Assisi AAP four times a year in March, June, September and December. Submission deadlines are February 7, - Catherine Ann Lombard 10 May 7, August 7, and November 7. Book Announcement: Gifts of the Mandala 16 Send Announcements, Ideas, Reviews of Journey With Francis and Clair of Assisi 17 Books and Events, Articles, Poetry, Art, A Contrasting Explanation of the Significance of Dreams Exercises, Photos, and Letters: Tell us what has helped your life and work, what can help others, - Al Marcetti 18 and examples of psychosynthesis theory in action. Announcing Synthesis SF in SanFrancisco 22 Notice of Events should be 1500 words or less, and She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not - Shamai Currim 23 articles should usually be 4500 words or less. We accept psychosynthesis-related advertising from Kentucky Center for Psychosynthesis Training 23 members. Non-members who wish to run psycho- Seeds of Hope Seminar - Alexandra Ratcliffe 24 synthesis-related advertising are requested to make Kathleen Cummings Memorial 26 a donation to AAP. Send submittals to: [email protected] GPS: G-d’s Positioning System - Jill Becker 27 The Association for the Advancement Events at the Huntington Center in New York 28 of Psychosynthesis: Social Education or Mass Therapy - Ewa Bialek 29 Founded in 1995, AAP is a Massachusetts nonprofit The Developmental Theory of Psychosynthesis corporation with tax exemption in the United States. - Kenneth Sørensen 32 It is dedicated to advocating on behalf of psycho- synthesis and conducting psychosynthesis educa- Poem by LauraLee Clinchard 43 tional programs. Membership and donations are tax Awaken to Wholeness Summit 45 deductible in the United States. Assagioli on National Affairs 46 AAP membership supports this publication and Psychosynthesis at School 1964-1981 - Isabelle Küng 47 the other educational activities of AAP: $75 (US) per year, with a sliding-scale fee of $45 to $75 for those who need it. Go to Notes from the Editor http://aap-psychosynthesis.org/join-aap/ or contact us at (413) 743-1703 or [email protected] The list of contents for this issue is so long I had to change this page layout! Wow! You will see psychosynthesis from 50 years ago right If you are NOT a member we invite you to join AAP and support psychosynthesis in North up to the present, working around the world to change lives and Life. America and the world. This issue embraces history, practice, theory, social action, training, Views expressed in Psychosynthesis Quar- reflection, waking, dreaming, and modern neuroscience. You’ll just terly are not necessarily those of the editors or of have to read on to see what I mean, for I don’t have words to cover AAP. AAP makes every effort to ensure the accura- what is in this issue. cy of what appears in the Quarterly but accepts no This issue completes the fifth year of Psychosynthesis Quarterly, liability for errors or omissions. We may edit and each issue has been chock-full of material sent in by readers from submissions for grammar, syntax, and length. around the globe. I want to invite you, if Psychosynthesis Quarterly is sent to all cur- you are a practitioner, student or teacher rent AAP members and to others who are interested of psychosynthesis, to join our roster of in our work. Our membership list is never sold. authors and contributors. People are in- © Copyright 2016 by AAP terested in what you are doing and think- 61 East Main Street ing, and your reports of activities, Cheshire, MA 01225-9627 thoughts and reflections, and articles of All Rights Reserved interest help our community remain vi- brant and a constructive force in the world. www.aap-psychosynthesis.org Jan Kuniholm

2 Balancing Our Lopsided Brain Molly Brown

funny thing happened to many of us humans on our way to the 21st century: we developed a lopsided brain. AThis started very early in human evolution, when we began to create tools to use with our dexterous hands and opposable thumbs. Tools focused our attention down to details and problems to be solved—a specialty of the left hemisphere of our brain. Making tools and using them in precise ways activated our left hemisphere and we began to rely on it more and more. In the process, many of those of us in “Western Civilization” began to ignore and neglect the equally marvelous capacities of our right hemisphere: broad awareness of the surrounding world; openness to newness and novelty; seeing wholes and whole individuals, as well as the context and relationships within which those wholes exist. Many indigenous cultures remained in better balance, even while they were oppressed by the colonial forces of Europe (and later, the USA). In his book, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (2009), psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explores the sometimes conflicting capacities of the two hemispheres of the brain, going far beyond the popular notions of “rational” thinking and language in the left brain, creativity and spatial perception in the right. He describes and documents a “coherent pattern of differences” between the two hemispheres that “helps explain aspects of human experience … and even helps explain the trajectory of our common lives in the Western world.” See McGilchrist’s Ted Talk for a vivid summary of his thesis: https://www.ted.com/talks/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain. Humans are not alone in our divided brains. In birds, for example, the two hemispheres (and the corresponding opposite sides of the body) specialize in distinct tasks. It’s easier to see this in most birds, because their eyes are located on opposite sides of their heads. The left eye is operated by the right hemisphere, and the right eye by the left hemisphere. The right eye (left hemisphere) specializes in detail and focus, so the bird can distinguish familiar eatable seeds from the background of dirt and gravel. Meanwhile, the bird’s left eye (right hemisphere) points upward and out, scanning the world around for whatever might appear there: predators or mates or competing brethren or something entirely new. Presumably, this arrangement works out well for birds, with each hemisphere doing its job in cooperation with the other. However, McGilchrist suggests that in humans (or at least Europeans and Euro-Americans), due in part to our highly developed pre-frontal cortex, our left and right hemispheres “are in fact involved in a sort of power struggle, and this explains many aspects of contemporary Western culture.” Our left hemisphere was not dominant from the start; the imbalance in the two hemispheres’ influence on us arises from the interplay between the brain and our behavior, each subtly shaping the other, reinforced by social conditioning and child-rearing practices. Over time, we in the “West” have gradually and inadvertently trained our left hemisphere to dominate the more subtle and holistic capacities of our right hemisphere. The left hemisphere seems to prefer analysis, abstractions, precision, categories, and familiar generalities. It pays attention to concrete, fixed, and static objects, and predictable situations. Its job is to grasp, manipulate, control, and use various separate objects and procedures for the perceived short term benefit of its organism. It excels in technical and bureaucratic tasks, isolated from their possible effects on the larger world. It operates from its map of reality—its representation of reality—rather than on the basis of ongoing moment-to-moment feedback from the social and natural environment.

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3 (Continued from page 3) The right hemisphere offers us a very different view of the world and a very different pattern of relationship with the world. The right hemisphere experiences “the live, complex, embodied, world of individual, always unique beings, forever in flux, a net of interdependencies, forming and reforming wholes, a world with which we are deeply connected” (p. 31). It operates on the basis of ever-changing feedback from the social and natural environment. In learning about our divided brain, I am gaining insight into the underlying psychology of our unsustainable economy, politics, and culture. How does this imbalance towards the left hemisphere’s way of perceiving show up in today’s dominant culture? Primarily, we see it in the focus on short-term specific goals, like profits or the need for more jobs (any job will do) in a struggling economy. The right hemisphere would consider the effects of acting on these short-term goals—on the larger world, on the environment (our life support system), on longer term trends (such as climate change, or changing cultural values). It would consider how an industry might affect our physical, emotional, and mental health, individually and as a society. The right hemisphere might help us choose more life-affirming industries—producing bicycles instead of semi-automatic weapons, or growing food locally instead of growing it in huge industrial farms and shipping it all over the world. To confront the huge challenges of climate disruption, ecosystem destruction, species extinction, systemic racism and economic inequality, we humans who are part of the Industrial Growth Society must regain a balance between the two ways of being and perceiving that our hemispheres represent. This would have enormous effects in how we relate to one another and to the biosphere upon which we utterly depend. We can’t regain a balance by coming at the problem in a left brain sort of way; we can’t just “figure things out” and prescribe fixes. Years ago, Gregory Bateson warned us about undue dependence on “rational thinking.” In Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972), he wrote: Mere purposive rationality unaided by such phenomena as art, religion, dream and the like, is necessarily pathogenic and destructive of life … its virulence springs specifically from the circumstance that life depends upon interlocking circuits of contingency, while consciousness can see only short arcs of such circuits as human purpose may direct. “Mere purposive rationality” is the domain of the left hemisphere. And when we allow it to run the show, we can’t possibly align with the “interlocking circuits of contingency” on which all life depends. We can only manage and predict those “short arcs of such circuits as human purpose [left hemisphere] may direct”—which are woefully fragmented and incomplete. Then how do we regain balance? Bateson says we need “art, religion, dream and the like”—all good right hemisphere activities. Psychosynthesis has many tools to offer—guided imagery, anyone? We need to spend more unstructured time in nature. We need to limit our “screen time,” with its narrow focus. We need to listen to beautiful music and enjoy art, poetry, and dance. We need to pay attention to our dreams. We need to meditate with open minds and hearts. We need to listen to intuition and inner guidance, the Voice of Self. And we need to relearn how to converse deeply and peacefully with one another, as we explore the full implications of any and all of our plans and actions. ◙

Molly Young Brown, MA, MDiv, combines psychosynthesis, ecopsychology, and the Work That Reconnects in her teaching, writing, coaching, and workshops. Her books include: Unfolding Self: The Practice of Psychosynthesis; Growing Whole: Self-realization for the Great Turning; and with Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects. [email protected]. MollyYoungBrown.com, PsychosynthesisPress.com.

4 events in New Zealand

Kia ora and hello friends and colleagues,

This is to follow up on our earlier contact regarding an emerging vision of how psychosynthesis training and contribution might evolve as the Institute ceases to offer training courses. Whilst it would be wonderful to be able to leap fully formed onto the stage, the reality of establishing this new vehicle is rather more prosaic, and occasionally a tad clunky! However, we are making progress, and a number of you have indicated interest in attending the forthcoming Essentials for Practitioners course early next year, others in being involved as either a trustee or in a “Wise Council” role, and some in apprenticing for a teaching role.

We were delighted and grateful when PAnzA decided to offer the project a financial safety net to enable us to confirm the Essentials for Practitioners. However, despite this, the familiar venue we had chosen, Bella Rakha (formerly Knock-na-Gree), was too expensive.

Consequently, we have decided to relocate the fully catered, event, which will now cost only $270 per person including accommodation. This has also meant a new date: 2 – 6 February, 2017. We will be very sad if this change significantly inconveniences you. Our problem was a dilemma, and we decided it better to make the occasion more accessible to more people, creating a container where the richest “group mind” was possible.

Please join us at the lovely Kiwanis Lodge, Huia, on the very edge of the Manukau Harbour over Waitangi Weekend. The venue will be open from 3 pm, Thursday 2 February, and the programme will run until Sunday evening. There will be breakfast on Monday 6 February for a 10 am check out.

Draft Programme: Thursday 2 Feb Friday/Saturday/Sunday 3,4,5 Feb: Experiential day programme facilitated by Welcome - ritual - 5 pm Robyn Rogers and Mark Skelding, combining Dinner - 6 pm over 20 years experience of group facilitation exploring psychosynthesis principles, maps Introduction & overview 7.30 and models, with particular focus on how Lt supper – 9.00 practitioners and facilitators can apply psy- chosynthesis essentials more deeply with clients or in teaching.

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5 New Zealand - (Continued from page 5)

Daytime programme outline: Evening - 7.00 – 8.30

What is it “to be a centre of Consciousness...and Dialogue sessions on themes of the day, Will”? facilitated by senior practitioners. Consciousness and the Egg Diagram Alignment and Presence - Body, Feelings, and Sessions will consider opportunities for Mind evolving the content of training in the light of contemporary social needs, the requirements When Consciousness meets Will: of working within a regulatory framework, and Creativity and Spirit working with practitioners from other modal- Riding the Crises of Awakening ities, disciplines and world views.

After the Awakening - What? Sunday evening will become rather more Will, purpose, intention and evolution of a celebration, and may run later! Right Relations with self and other (incl. colonisation & multicultural context)

Plus – opportunities to enjoy bush and beaches.

We look forward to sharing with you in an exciting and stimulating start to a new year, and the growing realisation of a new vision. To join in please make a minimum deposit of $50.00 to Kiwibank 38 9018 0271694 00 (Please put your name in the Reference!) and email to confirm - c [email protected]. Chris will send you a receipt. Warm wishes,

Chris Johannis, Deryn Cooper, Mark Skelding and Mark Haxell (see: http://songlines.wixsite.com/pacificsynthesis

PS: We are presently deciding the final name of the new entity before 1 December. Please review and comment on the various options by visiting https://www.loomio.org/invitations/4ecffdbe302582597ab

6 TWO POEMS C’Anne Chevalier

AFFIRMATION OF AN ARTIST

Hello Mystery! I’m not afraid of your dark eyes in the middle of my dreams. They’ve been sitting there for years, waylaying my creative expression. Just when I think I am visited by a vision, you show up and close down the show. This time I’m ready to fly at you, ignoring the “I told you so’s” and “you’re not good enough.” I hear tell, I am!

COURAGE AND PEACE

Tonight I left the cabin door open with the deep darkness of night held at the threshold and I wasn’t afraid. A thin slice of moon right below the tree line gave me enough courage to look past my fear to that glimmer of light. How I pray the World will find a ray to hold on to.

C’Anne Chevalier is a former teacher who recently moved from Florida to a cabin in Tennessee

7 GOOD-BYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD Shamai Currim

ne thing I know for sure, change is a constant in all our lives. I was born under the sign of Aquarius, and Othey say people born under this sign tend to be in our heads, so knowing is a constant that I take for granted. Humans are creatures of habit. We feel comfortable with sameness, while at the same time we hate boredom. We do all we can to create a comfort zone from which we eventually break all boundaries in the hopes of reaching balance and peace. We are creatures of our own creation, taking steps to reach where we were already headed. We think we can change what is already out of our reach.

The old adage, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink, has no meaning. The fact that you have taken him to the water has already created a change of which drinking plays no part. If we walk into a situation with an assumption, then we are bound to become the loser. Labeling a situation creates the illusion of change, while our deeper substance remains the same, unless we choose to look into our patterns and recognize our truth.

I recently read a book written by a well-known Saint (Spiritual Gems by Mahaj Sawan Singh Ji, published by Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Punjab, India, 1965/1996) in which he states that there is no such thing as group karma. While I can’t prove or disprove this, I do know there is a group consciousness. I see this in action every time I visit my local homeopath. She takes my case and, while looking over all her collected information, chooses a remedy to support my life journey. Before I even know what she wants to recommend, through the process of her thought the remedy is already doing its work at supporting change, proof of the oneness of all existence. If we want to create change in the world, then we need to become the change agent.

Psychosynthesis is a means to bringing about change. It gives us a chance to look beyond the mundane, into possibility. A walk down the block with consciousness can bring a moment of enlightened living. Suddenly we are flooded with new ideas, a mind creation of a higher order, and it is in that moment that we can make a choice. Do we follow our higher understanding, or do we remain stagnant and truant to our real Self? If we choose to remain, then we concretize our assumptions and become, in that moment, our altered self. If we chose to listen with all our being, and allow ourselves to be guided to a higher knowing, then we can truly become who we are meant to be. It’s all a matter of choice, an act of will, and within our capabilities.

In his article The Self: A Unifying Center, Roberto Assagioli reminds us of the importance of creating a “unifying Center… of a different nature from that of all the single elements which constitute our psyche.” It must “coincide with our real self, the profoundest essence of our inner being.” At times, this authentic part of our selves, or I “seems to us the most immediate and sure reality. …. sometimes we have a clear sense of our personal identity through all changes; then again we seem changed, different from our ‘I’ of the day before, and we don’t ‘recognize ourselves.’” Even though we may self-identify with the various contents of consciousness, there is something within us that is immutable, never changing, always present. If we can succeed “in stopping the mental flow for a few moments, keeping the field of consciousness free from the states of mind which usually occupy it, we can manage to obtain a partial knowledge of the real self.” Through concentration and meditation we can bring ourselves to a state of higher knowing and higher living, an awareness of our true Self. We begin to understand “that there is a powerful inner force which operates on the ordinary consciousness impelling it in the direction of its profoundest aspirations.” In order to know ourselves we need to study our most intimate self, discover the real being hidden in the depths of our soul, and learn its marvelous potency. It isn’t until we truly know our inner being that a true Psychosynthesis can take place.

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8 (Continued from page 8) http://two.not2.org/psychosynthesis/articles/selfunifyingcentre.pdf

Which will you choose? The road less traveled? Or the yellow brick road? The choice is yours. ◙

Shamai Currim, PhD, currently lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with her husband, children, grandchildren, dogs, and grandkitties. She is a graduate of Psychosynthesis Pathways of Montreal and has served for many years, in many varied positions, on the Steering Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis. She is a retired psychotherapist, educator, and educational consultant and is currently living in a place of unconditional acceptance, joy, and love.

The Synthesis Center is (literally) on the Move!

After nearly 40 years operating psychosynthesis training programs from its home base in Amherst, MA, The Synthesis Center is moving in some exciting new directions! Starting with the 2017-2018 training cycle, the Level 1 in person training program will be hosted at a location in the Brattleboro region of southern Vermont. Stay tuned for details and dates regarding this upcoming move.

The training staff will remain the same, with Didi Firman and Jon Schottland co-directing the group with support from guest presenters and assistant leaders who are honing their skills to step up as the next generation of psychosynthesis trainers!

In addition to the Brattleboro area program, the Synthesis Center is supporting the growth and development of training programs across the country, from Florida to San Francisco. These new projects are being led by graduates of the Center’s transformational life coaching course. If you would like to be involved or receive more information about any of our in person or online training programs, contact [email protected] or go to our web site www.synthesiscenter.org.

9 Assagioli’s Reflections on the Poor Man of Assisi Catherine Ann Lombard

aint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) has recently come into the forefront of Sworldwide recognition and our collective consciousness. Pope Francesco assumed the saint’s name, 4 to 5 million people visit Assisi every year, and even the 2017 EFPP Summer School (European Federation for Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy) has chosen Francis’ vision of Peace as its theme. Francis’ greeting Pace e bene, “peace and all that is good,” goes beyond divisions, confessions and institutions, appealing to the foundations of human existence that we all share. We are called to establish peace between body and spirit, between present and eternity, between the personal and spiritual dimensions of our individual lives through which we may joyfully discover the goodness of all life.

In this brief essay, I explore some of Roberto Assagioli’s (1888-1974) references to Francis of Assisi. Throughout his lifetime, Assagioli was interested in Catholic mysticism as well as the spiritualist and American New Thought movement, Hindu mysticism, Romantic poets, and the perspectives of the Theosophical Society.1 Francis of Assisi, having chosen a life radically dedicated to Figure 1. Fresco in the Sacro Speco transcendent values, appears in a number of Assagioli’s writings. Assagioli would (‘sacred cave’) of St. Benedict in have naturally been familiar with Francis, who (along with St. Catherine of Siena) Subiaco, possibly the oldest and is one of the patron saints of Italy. Francis also spent long periods of his life at most faithful image of Francis. La Verna, in the Casentine valley not far from Florence where Assagioli lived most of his adult life.

An ideal model of compassion and peace with all living creatures

In the Act of Will, Assagioli uses Francis as an example of transcendence through transpersonal love, in particular altruistic love. One of the oldest works of Italian literature, Francis’ “Canticle of the Creatures” is referred to by Assagioli as a higher expression of love not “limited to the members of the human family,” but an all-inclusive embrace of “all living things in the animal and vegetable kingdom of nature.”2 Assagioli also acknowledged our vital spiritual dependence on the animals with which we share this Earth, when he wrote in 1913:

Science refuses to let go of the presumption that only humans are ‘wise.’ By humbly lowering ourselves and asking those inferior beings, we might understand the obscure message coming from the human soul. We might more easily raise the grand veil of mystery by another small margin.3

More than 45 years ago, Assagioli recognized our need to draw on Francis’ inspiration to cultivate “harmonious relations with the environment.”4 Today Francis could be identified as the patron saint of ecologists, exemplifying many of the best attributes of what it means to be an environmentalist. As part of an age-old Italian tradition of hermits and monks, Francis spent much of his life in caves or huts in the wilderness of the Apennines, deeply experiencing nature as a gateway into the mystery of the Creator and into the mystery of his own person as one of God’s creatures. Assagioli notes that Francis also had a sensory attachment to beauty, giving orders that “flowers be grown in the monastery so that all who saw them would be reminded of the Eternal Gentleness.”5

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10 (Continued from page 10)

Francis is famously depicted by Giotto (c.1266-1337) as preaching to a multitude of birds on his way to Bevagna. The birds are painted in the fresco as a living presence, protagonists in the life of the world as they “joyfully stretched out their necks, flapped their wings, opened their beaks, and even pecked at his habit.”6

Francis’ gift to be one with creation is also evident in the legend about his taming the wolf of Gubbio. While Francis was living in that Umbrian city, a lone, fierce wolf was prowling outside its wall, devouring domesticated animals and humans alike. With great compassion for the people of Gubbio, Francis Figure 2. Francis preaching to the went out of the city gates to meet the wolf, upon birds, as painted by Giotto in the which the wolf ran towards the saint with his upper Assisi Basilica. jaws wide open. But Francis cried out, “Come Brother Wolf, neither harm me or anyone else.” The wolf meekly approached Francis and lay down at his feet. Francis then made a proposal for peace. The people of Gubbio would feed the wolf every day in exchange for their freedom from the fear of being eaten by him. The two sides agreed to the pact, and peace reigned. The wolf lived for two more years, going from house to house without harming anyone, the people feeding him with great pleasure. When he died, they mourned his death and gave him an honorable burial. Today, the wolf’s bones are buried in Gubbio’s Church of Saint Francis of the Figure 3. Francis and the wolf of Gubbio on the altarpiece in Peace. San Sepolcro, as painted by Sassetta (1437–1444)

In his essay “Emotional and Mental Obstacles: Aggression and Criticism,” Assagioli refers to this legend as a metaphor for how goodness, gentleness, generosity and love can be powerful, dynamic, and radiant in taming not only the lone wolf of Gubbio, but “many other ‘human wolves.’”7 Assagioli continues by talking about how goodness also means “a constant emphasis on the good qualities of things, people, and circumstances.”8 This type of optimism is not naïve or Pollyanna-ish, but rather implies an ability to appreciate the positive aspects of life notwithstanding the coexistence of its negativity polar reality. Such positive attitudes make life easier and more joyful. Assagioli emphasizes this when he writes: “In fact, joy, mirth, and benevolence are magnetic.”9 We see Assagioli himself evoking these higher qualities of appreciation while spending time in prison.10 However, in his writing he once again turns to Francis as a model for willful conscious choice of a higher good and qualities such as appreciation, praise and gratitude. In this case, Assagioli turns to the verses of Italian poet, Vittoria Aganoor Pompili (1855-1910),11 who wrote eloquently of an imagined dialogue between Francis and one of his followers.

“Saint Francis, I’m frightened that I can hear snakes hissing in the bushes.” “I hear nothing but the rustling of the pine trees and the song of the birds.” “Saint Francis, a terrible stench is coming from the overgrown path and from the pond.” “I smell thyme and broom. I have joy and health for my drink.” “Saint Francis, we are sinking, the evening is coming on and we are far from our cells.” “Lift up your eyes from the mud, man, and you will see the stars blossoming in the heavenly gardens.”

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Letizia, a lighthearted spiritual cheerfulness that ac- companies suffering

In Assagioli’s treatise on Letizia,12 he makes clear that, as we attempt to fulfill our higher needs, “conflicts, crises of adjustment and growth” are bound to arise, leading us to experience our suffering alongside joy. Usually these conflicts occur between our subpersonalities. While we might feel joy at mastering a particularly unruly subpersonality, this subpersonality might experience this harmonization as painful. A part of us might rejoice in our willful determination to bring a subpersonality into Figure 4. A hand drawn depiction of Francis with (left to right) Brother Masseo, Saint Clair, and check, even as this subpersonality defensively kicks and screams, Francis preaching to the birds. This is from making our lives temporarily a painful travail. Assagioli writes Assagioli’s Archives, ID# 14609. how the great mystics and saints were able to smile as they endured their inner torments and physical martyrdom, specifically quoting Francis’ outlook on this spiritual process: “So great is the Good I look forward to that I take joy in every pain.”13 And: “It is inappropriate for the servant of God to appear sad and to have a gloomy face.”14 Assagioli retells the story of how Francis preached these very words to Count Orlando Catani of Chiusi, who was so pleased by its message that he offered Mount Verna as a new site of retreat for Francis and his brotherhood.15 We might recall Assagioli’s well-loved essay calling for us to do the very same and develop “smiling wisdom.”16 Assagioli is the first to commend us to love and accept these psychological, spiritual, and often physically difficult periods that seem to inevitably accompany self-actualization and Self-Realization. He clearly states:

They are the result of an attempt to grow, and are of the upward quest; they are a by-product of temporary conflicts and imbalances between the conscious personality and the spiritual energies bursting through from above.17

In fact, Francis suffered through a tremendous inner conflict before his spiritual awakening. The son of wealthy parents, Francis had been encouraged by his father to become a knight. On his way to fight in an armed expedition against the kingdom of Sicily, the young recruit fell ill in Monteluco, a village not far from home. That night he dreamed he heard a voice telling him to return to his own town and embark on a different type of crusade, a crusade of the spirit. His physical suffering ended, and Francis returned to Assisi the next day. From then on, his life was irreversibly transformed from days and nights of rich and rowdy street encounters full of amusements to time spent in solitude, seclusion, poverty and prayer. Figure 5. Francis renounces all worldly possessions, as Learning to discern one’s inner voices painted by Giotto.

Francis would continue to hear the voice of God (i.e. the Transpersonal Self), directing him at various stages of his natural life. Assagioli writes how this “inner hearing” is one effect of receptive meditation and stresses the need to carefully discriminate between true transpersonal hearing and our own psychic perceptions. He writes:

The information coming from the higher levels is for the most part impersonal in character; the messages are brief, but pregnant with meaning. They often have a symbolic quality, even when they appear to carry a concrete meaning.18 (Continued on page 13)

12 (Continued from page 12)

Assagioli uses Francis as an example of how we can easily misinterpret these higher messages. He briefly retells a well-known story about Francis to illustrate how our intuition, illuminations, and revelations can frequently be misinterpreted by us as commands to act in a certain way.19

While meditating in front of the crucifix in the ruined little chapel of San Damiano, Francis heard a voice coming from the cross that told him three times “Go and repair my house. You see it is all falling completely to ruin.” Francis took this message literally and thought he was to repair the dilapidated chapel where he was kneeling. He then ambitiously improvised as a mason and managed to rebuild three churches in Assisi, begging throughout the city for the bricks he needed. It was only two years after hearing this message that Francis actually came to understand that the church he was to restore was one of the spirit, the ruined temple of the soul that longs for tender healing. Once this full understanding of his true vocation became apparent, Francis assumed forever his habit of coarse homespun wool with its triple knotted cord down the side.

Such visions were a common occurrence during Francis’ life. Two years before his death, while praying in a secluded hut at La Verna, Francis saw a seraph with six resplendent fiery wings sweep down from heaven. This angel embodied the polarity of joy and suffering, as in the middle of its wings was the image of a crucified man—the agony of the Passion held in the beatitude of the seraph. When the vision disappeared, the marks of the nails began to appear in Francis’ hands and feet, and a wound appeared at his side. These stigmata were the first recorded in history. In Canto XI of Paradiso, Dante (c. 1265 – 1321) writes:

Then on bare rock between Arno and Tiber He took upon himself Christ’s holy wounds, And for two years he wore this final seal. (106-108)20

In 1913, as a medical doctor Assagioli countered the thought, current even then, that such mystical phenomena are nothing more than the Figure 6. Francis receives the stigmata at Mount morbid manifestations of nervous disorders. He wrote: Verna, as painted by Giotto.

If, as it is claimed, Saint Francis had degenerative stigmata in his body, this certainly does not diminish our veneration of the Poor Man of Assisi; it simply shows that these stigmata do not always have the ‘degenerative’ significance attributed to them, and this may cause us to reevalu- ate our concept of ‘degeneration’… Even if [he] were mad, this would only mean that madness is sometimes infinitely superior to the wisdom of ‘normal’ people, including psychiatrists.21

In his chapter “Mysticism and Medicine,” Assagioli further asserts that the “nervous and psychological disorders of mystics … are actually the effect or a direct consequence of their intense spiritual life.”22 He goes on to say, however, that such bodily suffering and illness have no merit of their own; they are merely imperfections of the mystic’s human nature, “which has not yet become a compliant, suitable instrument for the Spirit.” Once this does take place, the suffering individual will be healed to perfect health and become a true healer.

Francis received the stigmata shortly after the papal authority took all control over his fraternity from him, forcing Francis to accept its institutionalization into a religious order. Whereas the official biographies, commissioned by

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13 (Continued from page 13) the popes, paraded the stigmata as a sign of divine approval of Francis’ obedience to church authority, contemporary historians and theologians view them as a sign of Francis’ assimilation with the Crucified Christ. Like Jesus, Francis went through the experience that religious policies do not tolerate radical choices and that religious institutions actually repress instead of express the sublime. On Mount La Verna Francis went through a mystical crucifixion and discovered a new sense of inner freedom.23

Since the time of Francis, more than 300 cases of stigmata have been reported and documented, often with controversy—most notably within the Catholic Church. During Assagioli’s lifetime, one of the more famous of these was Padre Pio, a Capuchin friar of the Franciscan order living in southern Italy. In fact, we know from the written account of Luisa Lunelli that Assagioli’s wife Nella and their son Ilario visited Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo not long before Ilario’s death from tuberculosis in 1951. Both Ilario and Nella were Roman Catholics and Ilario was “profoundly religious, with a great devotion to Saint Francis.”24 The antibiotics that had finally arrived from America after WWII were too late for Assagioli’s only child; medicine no long seemed to help Ilario’s condition. He and those closest to him had since put their faith in prayer. While Assagioli did not accompany his wife and son (who went in a wheelchair) on this trip to visit the mystic priest, he did manage to procure a reserved compartment on the packed train for them and Lunelli for the two-day (one-way) journey.25

How to deal with money when leading a spiritual life

Finally, we turn to Assagioli’s article, “Money and the Spiritual Life,”26 in which he discusses the common conflicts and confusion over the deeper meaning and use of money in our lives. We might expect that Francis, whom Assagioli called the “Poor Man of Assisi,” would make an appearance in this essay. At the age of 25, Francis renounced a vast inherited wealth from his father by symbolically stripping naked in front of Bishop Guido and a great crowd in Assisi, forever devoting himself to “Lady Poverty.” His initial followers were not permitted to own any possessions, lived in straw huts, and preached and begged in the streets. Assagioli states that such a way of life is infeasible in our present age, pointing out that only decades after Francis’ death, the Franciscan Communities realized that “it was almost impossible to do without money and some form of buildings and land … Franciscans now use every means the modern world provides.”27 Assagioli continues by assuring us, “If this is what the sons of Saint Francis do, how can any more be expected of us … caught up in the very fabric of economic, family, and social life?” He then explains that spiritual transformation does not come from outside ourselves (where money might dominate), but from within.28 However, Assagioli is then quick to qualify this statement by noting his intention is not

… to criticize or distract from the sublime act of Saint Francis, which was indeed heroic and had an incalculable positive effect as an example to others, providing us with a practical lesson in detachment ... Our intention was only to show that this way cannot provide us with a generally applicable solution to our everyday lives.29

In other words, money is a necessity for living our lives, but it is our attitude and actions toward money that determine its true worth. In his prison diary Freedom in Jail, we see firsthand Assagioli’s personal spiritual struggle with money.30 Vittorio Arzilla, who was Secretary of the Istituto di Psicosintesi in Florence from 1968-1982 remembers Assagioli as an idealist who never took profit of his psychosynthesis work, always charging too little money for consultations and lectures, with the belief that he was providing a service to humanity.31

A final Franciscan question from Assagioli

While researching this article, I searched through Assagioli’s online archives to find any notes he might have written on Francis. I now end with a question we might engage with, a quote from Saint Francis written in Assagioli’s beautiful hand (in Italian) :32 (Continued on page 15)

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Lighthearted Joy

What else are the servants of God if not his minstrels destined to raise up the heart of the people and to bring them to the Joy of the Spirit?

S. Francesco

◙

References:

1 Mauro Pasqualini, “The Remote Origins of Psychoanalysis in Italy: Modernism and the Psyche in Florence, 1903-1915.” Culturas Psi, Vol 0, 2012, p. 13. 2 Roberto Assagioli, The Act of Will, The Psychosynthesis & Education Trust, London, 2002, pp. 116-117. 3 Roberto Assagioli, “I cavalli pensanti e i loro critici”, in Psiche, 6, 1913, pp. 349-372. All translations in this article are mine. 4 Ibid. 5 Roberto Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, The Aquarian Press, London, 1993, p. 253. 6 Bruno Dozzini, Giotto: The “Legend of St. Francis” in the Assisi Basilica, Editrice Minerva, Assisi, Italy, 1994, p. 37. 7 Roberto Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, The Aquarian Press, London, 1993, p. 187. 8 Ibid., p. 188 9 Roberto Assagioli, Per vivere meglio, Istituto di Psicosintesi, Florence, Italy, 1965, pp. 20-21. 10 Roberto Assagioli, Freedom in Jail. Edited by C.A. Lombard. Istituto di Psicosintesi, Florence, Italy, 2016. 11This is Assagioli’s translation from the Italian, as published in Roberto Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, The Aquarian Press, London, 1993, p. 253. A typewritten copy of the Italian text can be found in his archives in Florence, ID # 9432. 12This Italian word “letizia” is difficult to translate accurately into English. It is a kind of joy, one of the heart, full of delight, merriness, and high spirits. 13Assagioli, The Act of Will, pp. 200-201; Assagioli: Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, pp. 128- 129. 14 Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, p. 269. 15Assagioli, Per vivere meglio, p. 20. Note, however, Assagioli writes that it was Count Guidi of Poppi who heard Francis speak, and this is not correct. 16Roberto Assagioli, “Saggezza Sorridente”, in Per vivere meglio. Istituto di Psicosintesi, Florence, Italy, 1965, pp. 25-33. 17Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, p. 129. 18 Assagioli, The Act of Will, p. 226 19 Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, pp. 75-76. 20Dante Aligheri, The Divine Comedy, Paradise. Translated by Mark Musa. Penguin Books, 1986, p.136. 21Roberto Assagioli, “Psicologia e psicoterapia”, in Psiche, 2, 3, 1913, pp. 175–196. 22 Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, pp. 134-140. 23Enrico Menestò, “Umbria mistica e santa (secc. V-XiV)”. In M. Sensi (Ed.), Itinerari del Sacro in Umbria, Firenze, Italia, 1998, pp. 33-35. 24 Paola Giovetti, Roberto Assagioli: La vita e l’opera del fondatore della Psicosintesi, Edizione Mediterranee, Roma, Italy, 1995. p. 63. 25Ibid., p. 64. 26Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, pp. 213-233.

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27 Ibid., p. 217. 28 Ibid., p. 218. 29 Assagioli, Transpersonal Development, The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis, Footnote on pp 220-221. 30 Assagioli, Freedom in Jail, pp. 25-27, 35-36. 31 Giovetti, Roberto Assagioli: La vita e l’opera del fondatore della Psicosintesi, p. 99-101. 32 Roberto Assagioli, N.D. ID #8405. Retrieved November 11, 2016 from archivioassagioli.org. This translation is mine. The original Italian text is: “Letizia - Che altro sono i servi di Dio se non i giullari di Lui, destinati a rialzare il cuore degli uomini e portarli alla gioia dello spirito? S. Francesco.”

Catherine Ann Lombard, M.A. is a psychosynthesis psychologist, practitioner and researcher. She has had numerous articles published on psychosynthesis. Most recently, she edited Roberto Assagioli’s Freedom in Jail, published by the Istituto di Psicosintesi, Florence. She and her husband Dr. Kees den Biesen, philosopher and theologian, will be leading a 10-day pilgrimage in Umbria, Tuscany, and Lazio called “Journeying with Francis and Clair of Assisi” (see poeticplaces.org). You can follow Catherine’s bi-monthly blog at LoveAndWill.com.

book announcement

16 Journeying with Francis and Clair of Assisi Exploring, celebrating and walking during Italian Easter — 10-20 April 2017

We invite you to join a nine-day journey to sacred places in Umbria, Tuscany and Lazio, where you will encounter the presence and power of Francis and Clair of Assisi and their message. Together, yet in different ways, this man and woman chose a life radically dedicated to transcendent values.

Their message is of universal appeal, as captured by “The Spirit of Assisi,” the international project of religious, ecumenical and cultural dialogue that celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Francis’ greeting Pace e bene, ‘peace and all that is good’, goes beyond divisions, confessions and institutions, as it appeals to the foundations of human existence that we all share: we are called to establish peace between body and spirit, between female and male, between present and eternity, and thus discover all the goodness of life.

The journey brings you to places, texts and images that speak for themselves and will enrich your life. You will spend time at places that possess their own spirit and depth and their own special gift for you to quietly discover through meditation, drawing or painting, sharing with others, ritual celebrations or simply by walking through some of Italy’s most beautiful landscapes.

First we explore the figures of Francis and Clair, their historical setting, the message of their lives, and their contemporary appeal. This we do in Assisi, where we visit the sites that marked the birth and growth of the brotherhood and sisterhood both strove to realize.

We then continue our journey through larger spaces, guided by the oldest work of Italian literature, Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures. We spend three full days at La Verna, where we celebrate the Easter rituals of life and death and resurrected life. Finally, we visit the valley of Rieti, walking ancient trails like Francis did and meditating in quiet convents like Clair.

Your Guides

The journey is guided by Catherine Ann Lombard, M.A., writer and psychosynthesis psychologist, and her husband Dr. Kees den Biesen, scholar of Christian literature, philosophy and theology. They live in Umbria and are intimately familiar with the places which you will discover on this journey. The pilgrimage is explicitly small-scale and non-touristic, international and ecumenical of character. You will also enjoy lots of free time and, of course, great Italian food. See poeticplaces.org for the full program and for registration information.

Spaces are limited and registrations are due by 1 February 2017.

Cost of the journey: € 1350.

17 A CONTRASTING EXPLANATION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS Al Marcetti

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” ― John Lennon

reams and their meaning to our lives have puzzled humanity throughout history. Even before the development Dof modern psychology and its many systems for interpreting dreams, the use of dreams played an important role in history. During the life of Christ there are records of over two dozen dream interpreters in Jerusalem, and a first century rabbi stated, “The dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which has not been read.” (Mallon, 2000, p. 12) Throughout time dreams have been seen as important messengers from otherwise unavailable sources. Perhaps the most famous dream in Western culture is Pharaoh's dream of fat and lean cows in the Old Testament. Joseph successfully interpreted Pharaoh's dream as a prediction of famine and of the means that needed to be taken to survive. All dreams were seen as meaningful, and there was an implied system in Joseph's interpretation, namely that of symbolic representation.

The unlocking of symbolic codes contained within dreams continued to be the most common method of interpretation until the advent of modern psychology in the early 19th century. Early theorists, including most importantly Freud, Jung, and Assagioli, acknowledged the importance of dreams and assigned dream work varying places of importance in their theories of human nature. In this discussion, I will examine the use of dreams in both psychodynamic and psychosynthesis counseling in an attempt to clarify a useful understanding and application of dream work in therapeutic work.

The clinical material I will use is from my own therapy, firstly with a psychodynamic psychotherapist over a period of eight years and secondly with my psychosynthesis therapist over a three-year period. In both instances, I will illustrate the similarities and differences in working with the same reoccurring dream.

Although contemporaries and colleagues, Freud and Assagioli assigned different uses and meanings to dreams in their psychological theories. In his landmark work, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud begins by emphasizing the importance of dreams to waking life. He states, “In the pages that follow I shall bring forward proof that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that if that procedure is employed, every dream reveals itself as a psychical structure which has a meaning and which can be inserted at an assignable point in the mental activities of waking life.” (Freud, 2001, p.1) For Freud, dreams were almost always sexual in nature and a means of expressing deep unconscious fantasies, usually located in the infancy period. In Freud’s psychodynamic approach dreams are explored and decoded using a system, thereby giving the therapist and the client access to the latent content of the dream. His theory explains that dreams can often be triggered by outside events in our daily lives, but they represent wish fulfillment of a very primal nature in reality. In psychodynamic work dreams always have serious meaning and reflect early and deep desires.

Freud acknowledged the cryptic nature of dreams and saw them as mazes, which could be understood using the map of the symbolic sexual language of the dream where the root lies. Freudian methodology is complex and involves clients bringing their dreams and talking about them in a free associative manner. He also invited clients to reflect on the meaning that they placed on the dream. The psychodynamic therapist would apply the template of Freud’s personality theory, i.e. ego, id, and superego. “Ego dreams reflected the unconscious aspect of our selves; id dreams, the primitive side; and the superego, our socially conditioned, culture bound self.” (Mallon, 2000, p.18) In psychodynamic therapy the id aspects of personality, which contain the primitive sexual urges,

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18 (Continued from page 18) focused on reproduction and survival, are present but unconscious. Clients’ dreams fulfill the purpose of protecting the ego and superego by disguising their true meaning.

The search for meaning was the motivating factor in bringing a reoccurring disturbing dream to my psychodynamic therapist. Since puberty I had experienced the following dream several times a week. The dream varied in intensity but not in content; i.e. sometimes it was so frightening that it would wake me up and at other times it seemed to last for a very long time until I finally forced myself to awaken. In the dream I am a young man in a field where I grew up in the farmlands of central California. It is a hot summer day, and it is so clear and cloudless that I can see the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the far distance. I am alone, and as I approach the mountains my mother appears and beckons me. It is then that I realize that the sky has clouded over and I can no longer see the mountains. It is then that I realize that I will die some day. The realization of my own mortality is so terrifying that I begin to physically struggle in my dream against this reality. I move in a circle in the field shouting, “No!” stamping my feet. It is at this point that I awaken and find myself shouting, “No!” Sometimes, I am flaying about with my arms as well and am usually covered in sweat. It takes some time for me to realize that I am now awake but feeling extremely anxious. I am usually able to calm myself and return to equilibrium by making myself a hot drink or by turning on the television. There were periods of time in my life when I was frightened of falling asleep, as I knew the dream would come again.

Being able to tell someone else the dream, in the initial instance my psychodynamic therapist, relieved some of the negative power of the dream. During the first few sessions following my presentation of the dream, I was asked to free associate some of the images in the dream while lying on the therapist’s couch: my mother, the mountains, the field, death. I found this very disturbing, particularly when I free-associated about death. In my notes from that time I have written:

Death…pain…loss…gone…forever…grandma…disappear…emptiness…black hole…blackness…cold…emptiness…dear…frighten…unfair…unprotected…unjust…lies …lying in the grave…grave matters…endless emptiness

During the sessions my therapist made no comments or interpretations. Later, I was asked to talk about the images and what they might mean to me. Of course, like many gay men, I seemed to talk endlessly about my mother and her influence on my life. I came to see her in a more realistic manner, and our close—almost incestuous—bond, as a driving force for my high anxiety level. My therapist was aware of my educational and spiritual background, that I had knowledge of literature, philosophy, and theology. The therapy moved to talking about images of mother in these areas and the promises that mothers make to their children, either implicitly or explicitly. From there I came to the conclusion that a theoretical context for the dream could be established. The fear and lack of trust in my dream shown by the mother beckoning me to the knowledge of death and loss somehow symbolized my primitive sexual urges to return to the safety of the womb, a frustratingly impossible desire.

This has been a brief summary of the work I did on this dream, and I have to say the power of the dream did lessen for me. In addition the frequency of the dream decreased until after a year I was only having the nightmare very occasionally, and the quality of my life subsequently increased. It must also be noted that the dream work was in the context of a longer ongoing therapy of eight years and that from a psychodynamic perspective quick fixes or instant relief as a result of a moment of enlightenment are not to be seen as lasting. During the therapy my philosophical and spiritual lives were acknowledged but always seen as something that were particular to me; in other words, only important in that they might reflect my adjustment or avoidance of issues in my life.

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When I finished therapy I left feeling that I had resolved many significant issues in my life. My dream rarely reappeared and this felt good, but I was never really comfortable with the dream work we had done. There was a sense of unfinished work or incompleteness about it all.

While Freud saw dreams as integral to the practice and theory of psychodynamic psychology, Assagioli acknowledges their importance without assigning them a major role in psychosynthesis. He acknowledges the key role which dreams played for Freud but puts the work within the larger context of the development of dynamic psychology and acknowledges its influence on psychosynthesis (Assagioli, 1965, p.12-13). While Freud is often quoted as saying that dreams provide the royal road to the unconscious, Assagioli gives them a somewhat lesser, but still important, role. He agrees with Freud that dreams do give access to the unconscious but often to only one part of the unconscious. Many times the unmapped unconscious chooses to reveal itself in ways other than through dreams. In psychosynthesis counseling he describes the use of dream work, “There are many kinds of dreams: of very different type, quality and meaning…. In our practice we ask patients to recount their dreams, and we give them the needed instructions for the analysis of them, but we definitely point out the fact that dream-interpretation is only one of the techniques and not the chief one” (Assagioli, 1965, p.94). Assagioli felt that meditation, guided daydreams, and guided imagery were more effective techniques in accessing the unconscious. He says, “Dreams are similar to meditation, except meditation gains the reaction of the unconscious by a systematic technique which is faster than depending on dreams” (Assagioli, 1965, p.304).

It becomes clear from reading the above that the psychosynthesis counselor works with dreams in a much more proactive manner than the less active, neutral psychodynamic therapist does. While acknowledging that dreams can come from the lower, middle, or higher unconscious areas of the personality, he says they contain information and images from all levels as well. This makes dreams more complex to work with. Perhaps the work I did with my psychosynthesis therapist will illustrate the manner in which psychosynthesis uses dream work in counseling.

After recounting my dream for the first time, I was invited to sit quietly and come into touch with what I was feeling about the dream. I began to speak several times but my therapist suggested that I not rush the process. Eventually I came to a sense of great unease and anxiety and felt very uncomfortable in the chair. I had an urge to get up and change my position but remained seated. I explained my feelings, and the comment made was that these were similar feelings to those in the dream. I was asked if I would like to continue and that we might try to see what sense I could make of the dream. As I had worked for many years on this dream, I went on to recount my psychodynamic analytical interpretation of the dream, i.e. existential dread of non-being, betrayal of the Oedipal triangle, etc. Without comment on my analysis, I was asked what I now made of the dream. I explained that I felt frightened and unsafe in the dream as well as confused. In talking about my confusion I came to a realization that I did not understand why my mother was beckoning to me. I recounted how mountains to me always mean adventure and coming into touch with my spiritual path—that my most significant early spiritual experiences were in the Sierra Nevada Mountains while working in summer camps. My therapist suggested a more benign interpretation of my mother’s presence as a spiritual or earth mother, reassuring me in what I experienced as an unsafe world. We left it there for a few weeks.

Eventually, I asked to come back to the dream, as I thought there was more for me to explore. The therapist suggested that we might go into the dream and re-experience parts of it. I agreed and dialogued with the mother, the mountains, and eventually stood in their place to see what it felt like. From this work I came to a deeper level of understanding and acceptance of the dream material. I realized that at this time in my life the dream was about my spiritual journey in a confusing world. My mother and my Swiss Italian grandmother were the primary influences in my early life, although they had diametrically opposing views of God, judgment, and the afterlife. These female figures combined into one in my dream, to beckon me to explore my spiritual path. I also realized

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20 (Continued from page 20) that when I had begun to do this exploration in waking life by training to become a priest in the Church of England, my dream had become less intense. By the time I completed psychodynamic therapy, I was only experiencing the dream a few times a month, and when I ended psychosynthesis therapy I had not had the dream for several years. I found the work of re-entering the dream, role-playing elements of the dream, to be most satisfying; and the acceptance which followed that work was lasting and meaningful.

On a personal level I found both approaches to dream work useful and meaningful; however, I have come to believe that Freud’s placement of dream analysis at the forefront of unconscious work is less appealing and less effective. Using Assagioli’s egg model of human development allows a wider and less didactic role for dream work. In the end, I have come to believe that dreams provide one path to the unconscious, not the only one, and that psychosynthesis techniques provide a deeper and more creative variety for implementing therapeutic work.◙

References

Assagioli, R. (1965) Psychosynthesis: A Manual of Principles and Techniques; New York, NY: Hobbs, Dorman & Company, lnc. ______, (1993) Transpersonal Development: The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis London: Thorsons. Casement, Ann (2001) Carl Gustav Jung London: Sage Publications Cornett, Carlton (1998) The Soul of Psychotherapy, Recapturing the Spiritual Dimension in the Therapeutic Encounter London: The Free Press. Freud, Sigmund (2001) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume lV, The interpretation of Dreams (First Part) London: Vintage ______, (2001) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume V, The interpretation of Dreams Second Part) and On Dreams London: Vintage. Jung, C. G. (1959) The Basic Writings of C. G. Jung New York. The Modern Library. Mallon, Brenda (2000) Dreams, Counselling and Healing Dublin, lreland; Newleaf. Whitmore, Diana (1991) Psychosynthesis Counselling in Action London; Sage Publications.

Al Marcetti trained at the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust in London and practiced in London as a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor for 15 years. He was Director of Counseling Training at City & Islington College in North London until 2008. He is a relatively new member to AAP, and is beginning a practice in Providence, RI.

We invite you to support the continuing publication of PSYCHOSYNTHESIS QUARTERLY, scholarships in psychosynthesis training, and other programs and initiatives: Click to JOIN AAP

21 Announcing: Synthesis San Francisco Based in San Francisco, CA, Synthesis SF is committed to:

● Training, nurturing and supporting a new generation of Psychosynthesis Coaches and Practitioners. ● Promoting, partnering, collaborating and contributing to the expansion of psychosynthesis’ reach in the Bay Area, regionally, nationally and globally. ● Building a community that contributes to the growth, development and sharing of psychosynthesis tools, research and dissemination.

Board Certified Coach Training in Psychosynthesis: Begins March 2017

As we begin our work and presence in San Francisco, we are pleased and honored to collaborate with The Synthesis Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, to bring their Coach Training to San Francisco, beginning March 2017. Inspired and led by Synthesis Center founder, Dr. Dorothy Firman, BCC, Ed.D, LMHCF, the Psychosynthesis Coach Training program is holistic and transpersonal, offering a path to the Board Certified Coach Credential. We welcome current and aspiring coaches: licensed practitioners, counselors and psychotherapists, wanting to develop coaching skills, as well as other professionals trained, or wanting to be trained, solely as coaches. This experiential learning program takes place in group, individual, in-person & remote formats. Trainers include leaders from a variety of coaching disciplines, including: Life Coaching, Business and Executive Coaching, Expressive Arts, Social Justice: "self-in-society synthesis" Coaching, Yoga, and other applications for bringing this work actively into the world of coaching. The focus is on theory & the development of coaching skills to support the development of a unique "voice" as a professional. This program offers: Psychosynthesis Coach Training: The Will to Grow: Transformational Life Coaching A Nationally Certified Psychosynthesis Coach Training Program Training leads to Certification as a Psychosynthesis Life Coach (PLC)

22 SHE LOVES ME – SHE LOVES ME NOT Shamai Currim

s I sat by the water of the St. Louis River this morning I began to see things in a newer light. Keeping in line Awith the cognitive lessons of my youth, I thought about the duality of love. I had always thought that the opposite of love is hate. In the early hours of this morning I took this a step deeper and recognized that the opposite of love is indifference. Love and hate are the same side of the coin, while indifference takes all to a new level and, as I raised the vibration of this duality of love and indifference, I suddenly had my aha moment of unconditional love, and recognized that the top of that pyramid of love and indifference was detachment. All of my healing life I have worked so hard at becoming attached, and suddenly I recognized that attachment to the ego is what creates this physical level of love and hate. When we are able to separate from our ego/I we make space for the authentic love to enter. Suddenly we are embraced by an eternal, all encompassing, unconditional acceptance of Self (which includes other); the understanding of oneness allows a being of authentic love, and the loss of the false love. In grasping for ‘love’ I had lost my ability to allow love into my be-ing. In that moment of knowing the world stopped being what I thought it was, or had to be, and became its self, in all its glory.

I have been told that one of our goals in life is to see the godessence in everything. I think I’m starting to live that.◙

(See Page 10 for biographical sketch of Shamai Currim)

Image taken from google)

KENTUCKY CENTER FOR PSYCHOSYNTHESIS OFFERS MINDFULNESS-BASED PSYCHOSYNTHESIS TRAINING

This is the most comprehensive on-line 3 year training program with certification in personal, interpersonal and clinical applications. It includes 6 mentoring sessions each year. Fee: $900 per year. For more info: www.kycenterofpsychosynthesis.org or call Vincent Dummer at (859) 806-7138

The Kentucky Center of Psychosynthesis, Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974 that is devoted to the expression and promotion of psychosynthesis theory and practice. Over the past thirty years, hundreds of professionals in the Midwestern and Southern United States have been closely associated with the KCP.

23 Seeds of Hope: A Seminar on How the Will-to-Good Can Transform our World Alexandra Ratcliffe

n 28 October 2016, I attended a seminar organized by World Goodwill1 amidst the salubrious surroundings Oof the Palais des Nations, Geneva, “the capital of peace and freedom.” The topic was: “From Intellect to Intuition - Ethical Responsibility and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.” This UN initiative and its 17 aspirational goals which came into effect early this year, are “a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.”2 The SDG’s provide guidelines and targets for all countries to adopt, in order to tackle the numerous global problems such as poverty, climate change, inequality and conflict, and to address them now. These goals for the future are officially known as “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

In view of the expansion of industrialization and the exponential growth of the population, we now know that it is impossible for the present use and abuse of the environment and our resources to continue as it is without disastrous results. As Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said, “There is no Plan B, because there is no Planet B.” We can make development sustainable, but it requires global cooperation and global accountability, the partnership of governments, private sector, civil society and citizens alike to ensure we leave a better planet for future generations. This implies the need for social and political will.

However, the keynote of this seminar, which attracted 150 people from a wide range of backgrounds, professions and nationalities, was that, as stated in the Preamble to the UNESCO Constitution,3 “since wars begin in the minds of men…,” we need to fully realize and appreciate now the fact that if these Sustainable Development Goals are going to materialize, “they have to first be addressed in our minds.”4

Presentations, including “Ethics in International Cooperation,” “SDG’s and Human Values,” “A Crisis of Growth and Consciousness,” and “The UN: Reflecting the World, Reflecting Ourselves” and the ensuing discussions, addressed this very fact, indeed the most essential fact of all. As the final presenter stated in her closing address whilst quoting Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world,” if the UN itself, with all of its laudable works and imperfections, is a reflection of the way the world is today, then “perhaps it is we who actually need to reform the way we are and act as individuals first, before we demand it of others.”5

The purpose of the United Nations is clearly stated in the first Article of its Charter: “To maintain international peace and security…to develop friendly relations amongst nations…to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems.” And perhaps most significant of all, as stated in article 1.4: “to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.”

Marco Toscano-Rivalata, a presenter and staff member of the UN Geneva, asked us to deeply consider the implication of what it means for the UN “to be a centre for harmonization” and to this end, what are the prerequisites for so being? Linking with the idea that the United Nations (and indeed the seminar was itself a mini-United Nations) is a microcosm of the world, and the world is comprised of individual wills and choices, he reminded us that “psychological studies indicate that the will is essential to harmonize our internal parts and forces…and, that will in a fully developed person is not only strong, but also wise and loving and goes beyond the interests of the person itself.”6

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The UN is the spearhead, conceived to be an agent of change, “not the cause of change, which indeed rests with the growing consciousness of humanity,” but it is also a “catalyser of the will to good.”7 In fact, every person attending the seminar, listening to the recording, participating in some way with the presentations, was drawn to this seminar, this hub, this ‘Temple of Humanity,’ the United Nations, driven to some degree by goodwill—the will-to-good. It was indeed a confluence of Goodwill.

The Sustainable Development Goals are indisputably ethical. Ethos implies the study of moral philosophy. In his introductory remarks, Mintze van der Velde emphasized this point: “When we look at (the SDG’s) from the point of view of the intellect, whole volumes have been written on the subject. Yet, when we lift it from the intellect to the intuition, we all know what this is about. The SDGs are more than an intellectual exercise…”

He continued, “Goodwill is one of the most basic spiritual qualities of the human being and the great untapped resource at the heart of every human community…. As a potentially powerful force for social change, its power remains largely unrecognized and underutilized.” And yet, he said, “It is the thoughtful planned action of networks of goodwill that is driving the response to all the problems of our age. People of goodwill from all cultures are creating a new world where sharing, cooperation and right relations are taking root and spreading. Never before in the history of the planet has goodwill been so active.”8

Here, in essence, lie the Seeds of Hope: Since goodwill is “one of the most basic spiritual qualities of human beings, and every community has its people of goodwill,”9 we see there are “many attempts being made to replace competition with cooperation, conflict with arbitration and agreement, based on an understanding of right relations between groups, classes and nations.”10

Roberto Assagioli taught: “All this is basically a question of willing. The success of these attempts depends on the gradual harmonization of the wills of all concerned. Such harmonization is difficult, but it is possible; the differing individual aims can be made to fit into the circle of a wider human solidarity”.11 The obstacles? He tells us: selfishness, self-centredness, and lack of understanding of others.

Amidst the chaos and confusion of today, we ourselves can train our wills towards goodwill. In every day and in every way. As stated earlier: “We actually need to reform the way we act as individuals first, before we demand it of others.”12 And we need to channel this innate goodwill into actions and systems and support of organizations, such as the United Nations, with all its drawbacks and frailties, which exists as a format for channelling the goodwill of us all.

This we can do. So long as we have a will, we can find the way. ◙

References:

1 https://www.lucistrust.org/world_goodwill 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals 3 http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/about-us/who-we-are/history/constitution 4 Quote from seminar presentation by Mintze VanDerVelde, “Good Will, Ethical Responsibility and the Sustainable Development Goals” 5 Quote from seminar presentation by Judith Hegedus, “The United Nations: Reflecting the World, Reflecting Ourselves” 6 Quote from seminar presentation by Marco Toscano-Rivalta, “Dag Hammarskjöld- Ethics in International Cooperation”. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. “Goodwill, Ethical Responsibility…” 9 Ibid. 10 Assagioli, Roberto, The Act of Will, Turnstone Press, Great Britain, 1974. (Continued on page 26)

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11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. “The United Nations: Reflecting the World…”

Born in New York and living in London, Alexandra Ratcliffe is a freelance writer, retired teacher, student of the Ageless Wisdom teachings (she has read and studied Assagioli also), and her writing includes articles for the Huffington Post UK http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/alex-ratcliffe

Dear Psychosynthesis Friends,

I wanted to let you know of the death of my wife Kathleen Cummings on November 16, 2016. We were married in 2011 and worked together to create the Panola Ridge Farm Sanctuary in Waco, KY. This 50 acre land is Holy Ground, dedicated to all life—plants, animals and human beings—on planet earth. Our sanctuary is a retreat center for creative musicians, artists, writers, healers, biodynamic farmers, educators, theologians, researchers and truth seekers from all cultures on earth. Ahimsa (non-violence) and reverence for life are defining qualities of our sanctuary. Visit us soon!

Kathleen Cummings Memorial Gathering Panola Ridge Sanctuary Opening Day Kathleen Cummings Waco, Kentucky March 18 - 19, 2017

Friends of Kathleen Cummings are invited to Panola Ridge over the weekend of March 18-19 to honor her dream of creating a nonprofit farm sanctuary. On the 18th we will have a ritual remembering Kathleen. Then over the weekend you will be invited to participate in informal workshops and creative projects. If you have something you would like to present, a workshop pertaining to organic farming, sustainability, etc....

Please submit your proposal to [email protected].

Compassion, Light and Joy, John Parks

[John Parks, MD, is a founder of the Kentucky Center for Psychosynthesis—Ed.]

26 GPS: G-D’s POSITIONING SYSTEM Jill Becker, MD, MA None of us hears the word G-d without having an image or a feeling evoked. According to my religious background, G-d is like an elderly white man in a long white robe, with a long white beard, and with long, flowing, white hair. This man sits in a great, wooden chair which floats in the heavens. In his hand he holds a staff as he passes judgment on each and every one of us. According to my religious background, if I don’t repent for all of my wrongdoings, G-d will not “inscribe me in The Book of Life” and, at the end of the year, I will die. For many reasons, this concept of G-d has always troubled me. As a child I wondered why G-d would strike me dead for cheating at Monopoly, or for putting the letter o between the letters G and d (as in G-d)? As I grew older, I learned of religious persecution and other atrocities committed in the name of G-d. And, I became further confused.

Ultimately, I came to realize that although I loved the traditions with which I grew up, the organization that was ostensibly behind them had become less and less important to me (much to my mother’s chagrin). For a time, I must admit, I didn’t really believe in anything. My ex-husband and much of his family are atheists. Given the lack of overt scientific evidence, that appealed to the scientist in me. When my own daughter began to ask me about G-d, I was very comfortable telling her that people have different beliefs and that I believed G-d to be science and nature. That seemed to give her the tools she needed to relate to her friends who were raised with religion as well as those who were not. It also honored my own beliefs.

Now, I seem to be settling into a new belief system. I can’t really call it religious because of all that that connotes. I can’t really call it scientific because of all that that leaves out. And, so, I have given in to the theme that has become a current catch word—spirituality. What I’m just beginning to understand and to believe in is a Universal Intelligence—some kind of an overall meaning for things and a way that all things, animate and inanimate, are interrelated.

My first date as a newly separated woman was with a Quantum Physicist. After three hours of “physics talk,” he told me that he had never been on a date with a woman who was so enthralled by his knowledge; Quantum Physics is beginning to explain Universal Intelligence in scientific terms. And, broad-minded theologians are finding the science in G-d. It all seems to be pointing to the same place—that everything is energy, that everything is interrelated and that everything affects everything else.

That brings me to the reason for, and the conclusion of, this essay: Fate versus Free Will. Today I was listening to Carla. (My daughter and I call the female voiced GPS [Global Positioning System] in my car Carla, get it? Car-La.) She was directing me to my ex-husband’s apartment where I was to pick up our daughter. Carla was sending me the shortest distance but, because of traffic lights, the longest route. I decided to go another way. Carla, without missing a beat, simply recalculated and, without a note of judgment in her “voice,” directed me along the new route. This got me thinking about G-d, fate and the role of free will in our lives. I started thinking of all kinds of analogies, the branch of a tree, the queue for a printer, and the GPS in the car. Finally, I came to this…

Fate is what the Universal Intelligence has “planned” for us. But, there is always room for our free will to adapt or change it; you get in your car, your GPS (perhaps she’s named Sheila or he’s named Tom) tells you which way to go. But, when you decide to use your free will to go in another direction, Sheila

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27 (Continued from page 27) simply takes your decision into consideration and, without judgment, calculates another route to get you to your ultimate destination. Maybe Tom tells you to make a U-turn, suggesting that you retrace your steps and revisit the same lesson.

Or, maybe, you decide to follow Carla’s directions, turn by turn, via the shortest route, and to the letter.

This time.

Living in Newton, MA, Jill Becker is a "beyond the box" Medical Doctor who is trained in Gynecology. Jill also has a Master's Degree is Clinical Counseling, with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy. Jill had the great good fortune to study Psychosynthesis with Didi Firman and Jon Schottland in Amherst, MA. Jill is also trained in Psychosynthesis Coaching. See jillbeckermd.com to learn more or to get in touch with Jill.

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28 SOCIAL EDUCATION OR MASS THERAPY? (HOW TO AVOID THE HOTBEDS OF WAR ?) Ewa Danuta Bialek

(This is an edited version of a lecture presented by the author at the XI World Congress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue 11-16 July 2016, Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract:

This paper is based on the author’s personal history. It references various studies supporting her arguments on the depth and scale of individual and social problems and diseases of civilization in the modern world. Her descriptions and explanations have become a basis of not only analysis but also synthesis, and the creation of original programs of lifelong education aimed at preventing tendencies toward unconsciously harming the people that one is closest to and ultimately preventing the destruction of mankind, the environment and the world. This education, based on values, aims to reveal the essence of things – from Latin educare – and so to extract the hidden depth in each person, for positive effects in the human sphere – humanum.

Introduction

The times we live in provide us with a variety of challenges, due to the deepening crisis we are confronted with every day. Many questions arise about the situations that need to be faced. They require complex explanations:

● Why can't people make and stay in healthy relationships, build healthy families and societies, or coexist in harmony with people of other religions, nations and Nature? ● Where does the escalation of violence start; and does it ever end? Where does it come from? Where are its roots? ● Do education, upbringing, science and business systems increase the pathology, avoiding deep needs and individual and collective life values? ● Does the system glorify methods and inventions instead of health, producing dangers for the global population and next generations? ● What shall we do to create a better future for ourselves and the world?

A bit of my story as a context of deep research.

This lecture is based on my life experiences that became the foundation for my further studies and for educational programs for different groups (children, teachers, doctors, academics). I aimed to create a model of “education for the future” that would eliminate the need for therapy. My traumatic childhood, which led to many years of ineffective drug therapy and attendant side effects, became a constant stimulus to seek reasons for the trauma and to discover satisfactory solutions. I was like a scholar-explorer and traveler, discovering the unknown territories of my soul, in order to heal them and to bear witness to the truth, not stopping until the reasons for the troubles were revealed.

My father was a political prisoner, viciously tortured in Poland during the communist regime after the war, and my family was constantly under surveillance and repression for almost ten years. I was two years old when those events crushed my family forever. My father was taken away. I never really got him back. After being in many prisons, he became a shadow of the man he used to be—emotionally absent. My mother, unemployed at first (she was a stay-at-home mum for two), lived in unremitting stress, which caused dramatic health problems for the rest of her life. (Continued on page 30)

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Being the victim of all kinds of repression, based on aggression and violence, I suffered from various ailments that were difficult to diagnose and treat. My interests led me in search of a “prescription” for health. After graduation I dedicated myself to scientific research in immunology and clinical diagnostics, and gave them 23 years of my life. Unfortunately I couldn't find answers in them.

At the beginning of the 1990s, I discovered psychosynthesis (the psychology with a soul, connecting me to the meaning of my life experience), which got me on the right track to realize the reasons for my problems and for healing their roots. These quests helped me to create educational programs I led through the “Education for the Future” Association, beginning in 1997 and continuing for the next eight years. Since then I have dedicated myself to deep study and practice, writing over a hundred articles and 30 books about them.

My story provided a solid foundation on which I based arguments and references. Despite the fact that my understanding appeared, even after many years, as a multidimensional jigsaw puzzle, the years of failure weren't lost, as they provided the answer to the questions of what didn't work and why? Only after that was I able to articulate how things do work and what sense they make in a broader perspective.

Where are the reasons?

It is worthwhile to look for references to a wider picture. We have to deal with other questions:

● What are the patterns? Where do they come from? Why are they duplicated—especially the negative ones? Why aren't they under control and eliminated? ● Why is the imagination used in a wrong way, to realize the consequences of threats, but not to be creative or to fulfill dreams? ● Why don't adults—parents as well as the toy and entertainment industries—have enough imagination to see that their actions turn people against each other—against their society and the world? Why don't we understand that some games and other forms of entertainment help children to imagine that it's fun to kill? ● What do we want to provoke, and what have we already provoked? Why do we ignore what we are supposed to know: that they who sow the wind reap the whirlwind? ● Why don't we listen to our hearts instead of copying others who allow children to fulfill all their needs with violent games and weapons?

Some of my most important references have been the works of Alice Miller. She has described the lives of many people, among them leaders of nations. At the center of her interest was the relationship of children with parents and their quality of life.

In this context we are facing even more questions:

● Why do we keep modeling negative patterns to our children? What do we lack? What deficiencies caused by not getting what we really needed, or what aggression that developed through influences from our environment, contributed to forming patterns of constant fighting against others? ● Why does the child of a dominant parent grow up to be a tyrant, passing this pattern on in his own family? ● Finally, why do pathologies continue through generations, and are they, as they are called, “genetically determined diseases”?

Another source of my inquiries was a group of Cracow psychologists and psychiatrists working at the Center for Victims of Political Persecution, and at the Department of Psychiatry of the Jagiellonian University. Research

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30 (Continued from page 30) was conducted on the health consequences for victims of oppression, and by 2009 nearly 21 volumes of documentation had been gathered. The scientists realized that not only do victims themselves need help and therapy, but also their families. Unfortunately, the patients couldn't understand the connection between their relatives’ persecutions and the health problems appearing in the next generation.

Literature from Poland and from the Pinochet period in Chile shows that traumatic events might have physical and mental consequences, and if not cured, can be seen later in the second or even third generations. This is now a well-recognized phenomenon, and has moved psychologists to analyze the quality of human relationships and their consequences in society. It is worth recalling a book published in 2000 by Cambridge University titled Cultures Under Siege, Collective Violence and Trauma (Society for Psychological Anthropology). The authors look at perpetrators, victims and society as the reflection of individuals, recognizing the dark side of a human being, who, responding out of anger and fear, is acting out on relatives and other close people. Social violence is born this way, and it is continued by the victims for many years after the fact of the trauma. Without anyone’s recognizing it, once implanted, the pattern is being repeated.

It is worthwhile educating the public concerning other effects of violence, which cannot be “freed from the body” using pharmacological therapy. They remain permanently in the body, in the form of body memory, as has been described by Lt. Col. Dave Grossmann, who revealed the drama of Vietnam and Afghanistan in war veterans. [See On Killing:The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society and On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace—Ed.] There have been many international forums dedicated to families and the victims themselves, who have lived with 'petrified' trauma for years—forums explaining how trauma reaches the source of people’s identity and their humanity. These trauma victims are often initially diagnosed with PTSD, and later diagnosed with fibromyalgia. This is connected with my descriptions earlier in this paper, coming from almost 50 years ago, concerning the victims of war camps and Polish political prisoners. As a result of the various reports and studies, a new quality of understanding had begun to emerge about the kind of situation we are currently dealing with.

Conclusions and Advice

“When something comes on time, it is education; if too late, it is therapy.” I quote here a fundamental principle of psychosynthesis, which has had a unique meaning for me in my path back to health, in my search for an original standard of health, as well as in understanding the physical, mental and social pathology leading to aggression toward the self, repression, and psychosomatic diseases, including PTSD; as well as generational patterns implanted in family, the community or society, leading to the hotbeds of war and terror we see in today’s world.

If we don't start education on time, one will need a generational therapy, and external manifestations might worsen, both in society and the world, leading to world conflicts and wars beyond what we witness at present. ◙

Dr. Ewa Bialek is the Director of the Institute of Psychosynthesis in Warsaw, Poland. She can be reached at [email protected]

31 The Developmental Theory of Psychosynthesis

This article is Chapter III of The Soul of Psychosynthesis: The Seven core Concepts by Kenneth Sørensen Used by permission of the author (re-formatted for this publication)

”Maslow has presented an illuminating progression of five stages of evolutionary development.” (Assagioli)

[In the last chapter, I quoted Assagioli’s remark that the Egg Diagram, "leaves out its dynamic aspect, which is the most important and essential one”.]

This dynamic aspect is The Developmental Theory of Psychosynthesis. In ‘Psychosynthesis,’ Assagioli gives a brief outline of this, and he later expands on the idea in ‘The Act of Will’. The theory illustrates the self’s journey from preconscious, to self-conscious, to superconscious awareness. Here I will present a general outline of this process. Assagioli was inspired by the Italian poet and writer Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). He considered Dante an enlightened being, and he compares the process of Psychosynthesis to Dante's Divine Comedy, which he describes as "a wonderful picture of a complete Psychosynthesis." (1975, p. 211) Dante's poem is about the soul’s journey from hell, through purgatory and into paradise. As Assagioli writes:

"The first part, the Pilgrimage through Hell- indicates the analytical exploration of the Lower Unconscious. The second part – the Ascent of the Mountain of Purgatory- indicates the process of moral purification and gradual rising of the level of consciousness through the use of active techniques. The third part- the visit to Paradise or Heaven- depicts in an unsurpassed way the various stages of superconscious realizations, up to the final version of the Universal Spirit, of God Himself, in which Love and Will are fused."(1975, p. 211)

In this quote, Assagioli describes a model of development moving through several stages. Starting at the bottom of the Egg Diagram, it passes through several levels and stages to Self-realization. In my Master Dissertation Integral Psychosynthesis (Sørensen, 2008), I provide many sources supporting this view. Here I will examine the many nuances that accompany this model.

As Assagioli developed his model, he integrated ideas from many of his colleagues. An important influence was the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow wrote a number of influential books in the 50s and 60s and was instrumental in the development of Humanistic and Transpersonal psychology. He is especially known for his: ”Hierarchy of Needs.” Assagioli frequently refers to Maslow in his work and he encouraged his students to study his books. (Undated 2)

In the ‘The Act of Will’, Assagioli brings Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs into the Egg Diagram. (1974, ch. 8-10) The similarities between Assagioli’s and Maslow’s ideas are evident and Assagioli quotes Maslow 25 times throughout the book. The integration of Maslow’s developmental theory with Assagioli’s “static” model is obviously an important point, because it relates his own model with a very clear and dynamic stage model. The evolving self’s journey goes through natural unfolding stages from the lower unconscious, through the middle unconscious and to the superconscious and beyond.

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There is some confusion about this stage model within the Psychosynthesis milieu. Influential Psychosynthesis thinkers such as John Firman and Ann Gila have sug- gested extensive changes to Assagioli's original model. We currently find two different theories of develop- ment within transpersonal psychology, with Assagioli belonging to the same camp as Maslow and the con- temporary American thinker, Ken Wilber. As I discuss this in my MA thesis, I will not dwell on it here, although I will mention an excellent article about the subject by the Dutch thinker Frank Visser. (Visser, 1998)

Development through the three levels of the Unconscious

Let us look at how Assagioli integrates Maslow’s ideas into his diagram. As mentioned, Maslow speaks of a ’Hierarchy of Needs’, a ladder of necessities that moti- vate the self. These range from “deficiency needs” like hunger, to higher “being” or “meta- needs” for meaning and enlightenment. Maslow recognised that when needs at one level are met, higher needs will appear, driving the self towards the next level of development. In the next diagram, Maslow’s ”Hierarchy of Needs” is included in the Egg Diagram from Assagioli's guidelines in The Act of Will. (1974, p. 99, 106, 110)

As Assagioli explains: “Maslow has clearly described the The Egg Diagram and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ in Motivation and Personality. He speaks first of the basic psychological needs; then of the personal needs such as belonging and love, esteem, and self-actualization; and also of a third group: Transpersonal or Metaneeds. Achieving the satisfaction of the first two groups of needs often engenders, paradoxically, a sense of boredom, ennui, emptiness, and meaninglessness. It leads to a more or less blind search for ‘something other,’ something more." (1974, p. 106)

Assagioli also explains how Maslow’s ”Hierarchy of Needs” fits into the Egg Diagram: "We can look at the diagram of the psychological constitution of man (Egg Diagram). The basic and normal personal needs concern the lower and middle psychological life, both conscious and unconscious. However, there is also a third and higher level - the area of the superconscious, which culminates in the Transpersonal Self." (1974, p. 110)

So for Assagioli, basic needs such as hunger and security are located in the Lower Unconscious. We can see this from the first quote, where he calls the need for belonging, love, self-esteem and self-actualization personal needs. They are related to the Middle Unconscious, with the need for meaning and transcendence within the Superconscious.

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Here Assagioli explains how by satisfying the needs of the Middle Unconscious we activate and develop the will: "All needs evoke corresponding drive toward their satisfaction. The drives concerning the basic elementary needs are more or less blind, instinctive and unconscious. But for the more personal needs the drives gradually lead to conscious volitional acts, aiming at their satisfaction. Therefore every need arouse, sooner or later, a correspond- ing will." (1974, p. 111)

The development of the Middle Unconscious culminates in what Assagioli calls Personal Psychosynthesis. This is the harmonious integration of the resources in the Lower and Middle Unconscious around the self as a center of self-awareness and will. He equates this stage of development with Maslow's self-actualization. (1974, p. 121) Here we find the liberated, goal oriented and self-conscious man, who is fulfilling his personal needs and dreams. Self-actualization is not primarily driven by the need for recognition (self-esteem). It is by definition “beyond” self-esteem. It is aimed at actualizing creative needs and potentials. At this stage we ask: “How much can I accomplish in life when I focus all my resources on a few selected goals?” We do not have a real conscious will until we reach this type of maturity; we cannot self-actualise at an earlier developmental stage. At this point we draw on holistic energies, integrating the personality’s many varied resources in order to achieve an overall goal. We can call this the integral stage. The presence of any spiritual or humanitarian motivation is not necessarily suggested at this stage; the self-actualized human can still be selfish. It is very often the urge to be “successful” or to display personal strength and power which drives this stage.

Self-realization begins when the self opens up to Superconscious energies. This is often preceded by an existential crisis. According to Assagioli: "When the first two groups of needs are met, they cause, paradoxically, a feeling of boredom, ennui, emptiness and meaninglessness."(1974, p. 106) During this crisis of meaning and purpose whatever stage the Self has reached will determine whether the needs of the soul or the personality will direct our life. If the self reaches a new stage in its development, a new motivation, anchored in the Superconscious, can begin to guide our lives.

Eight Developmental stages

Assagioli’s model of development distinguishes between a Personal and Transpersonal Psychosynthesis (1975, p. 30) and argues that Transpersonal development leads to Self-realization. He defines this as “the blending of the I-Consciousness with the Spiritual Self.” (1975, p. 202)

In ’The Act of Will’, Assagioli integrates Maslow’s theory into this process and presents all the stages of development in connection with the egg-diagram. For him, "Maslow has presented an illuminating progression of five stages of evolutionary development." (1974, p. 120) These stages exemplify different types of people and what motivates them.

The first two types are motivated primarily by the deficiency needs of the Lower Unconscious and Middle Unconscious. The next two are centred on the drive to self-actualize and the higher energies of the Middle Unconscious. Assagioli sees two types of self-actualization, a “selfish” self-actualization and a higher stage actualization, motivated by Transpersonal values. The fifth type is the Self-realized person, whose focus is on the creative expression of the energies of the Superconscious and an identification with the soul.

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Assagioli sub-divides the fifth stage into three parts, so the path of Self-realization goes through eight stages in total. For him the fifth stage is made up of: The activation and expression of the potentialities in the Higher Unconscious. Leonardo da Vinci and Goethe are examples of individuals who reached this stage.

The direct awareness of the Self in the union of the consciousness of the Personal self with the Higher Self. For Assagioli Gandhi, Florence Night- ingale, Martin Luther King and Albert Schweitzer reached this stage.

The communion of the Higher Self with the Univer- sal Self. The highest mystics of all times belong here.

In this diagram all the stages are related to the Egg-Diagram.

Self-realization in its technical meaning is a pro- cess, which primarily reaches through the Super- conscious, towards the soul and the Universal Self. A prolonged phase of purification is also a part of this process, so the descent into the abyss of the lower unconscious is also necessary. Our personal energies must be purified so they can express the universal love-wisdom that flows from the Superconscious. Dante’s journey through Mount Purgatory is a poetic expression of this process.

By responding to the call of the soul, the self can transcend the limitations of “normal consciousness” and manifest the energies needed for Self-realization. Along with the psycho-spiritual path to self- development, other avenues to transcendence relating to different personality types also exist. For Assagioli these include:

1. Transcendence through Transpersonal Love. Through altruism, devotion to nature, humanity and the divine, we evolve through the expression of Transpersonal love. This way to Self-realization can be called the Way of Love.

2. Transcendence through Transpersonal Action. Because humanitarian and socially conscious action can involve personal sacrifice and risk, it can be Transpersonal. We can call this the Way of Action.

3. Transcendence through Beauty. This is the aesthetic Way. The true artist is willing to endure much pain and suffering in order to express the beauty he or she experiences.

4. Transcendence through Self-Realization. This is the way of Enlightenment and concerns those who consciously seek to realize the potentials of the Superconscious and which have their origin in the soul. (Continued on page 36)

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We can see these Ways of transcendence as forms of will: a fundamental will to transcend the limitations of the personality through the union with someone or something greater. All of the Ways represents the union of love and will. (1974, p. 116)

Non-linear Development

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs might suggest that people develop linearly, but Assagioli, like Maslow, knew this was not the case. Transpersonal qualities can appear in a poorly integrated personality. There are idealists who do not have the strength to realise their ideals, and people sensitive to beauty but ineffective in life. (1974, p. 121)

The development moves through stages, but not necessarily step by step, like walking up stairs. For the gains to be integrated one must take “two steps forward and one step back”. When a new, higher stage is conquered, we must return and integrate the earlier stage from the standpoint of the new perspectives, needs and values. Every step forward triggers conflict with earlier needs. This tension must be resolved, integrated and aligned with the new level. Our awak- ening to the Superconscious must be reflected in our physical and subconscious behaviour. All aspects of the psyche, including sub-personalities, must be reor- ganised according to the new reality.

To be able to react subconsciously with love and wisdom in all situations requires a deeply transforma- tive process. Those who practice a spiritual life know this. There is a natural rhythm to the evolutionary process, a flow between ascent and descent, and a gradual conscious collaboration between the self, the soul, and the unconscious parts.

This diagram illustrates this development. It includes the three aspects of the personality - Mental, Emo- tional and Physical - and the stage of the integrated personality. In a healthy development, a continuous The spiral development of the Oval Diagram exchange of higher and lower energies takes place, in which our new values inform our sexuality and relationship to money and power. Destructive shadow material may emerge if lower energies are excluded from our spiritual development, a consequence that may be observed within spiritual milieus that focus too much on transcendence.

The superconscious energies must manifest through the Lower Unconscious before they can be expressed at the physical level, in service to humanity. Transcending our personal needs is not sufficient; energies from the Lower

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Unconscious - sexuality, aggression, assertiveness – must be brought in under the domain of the soul’s love and wisdom.

Assagioli believed that the aim of enlightenment is to be of service to humanity; the ecstasy we feel at our contact with the soul must serve this purpose. (1975, p. 207, 210, 2006, p. 251, 270) The synthesis of humanity- and ultimately the cosmos - is the goal of evolution.

Evolutionary Panentheism shares this perspective. Transcendental consciousness is of little use unless it can help the struggles of humanity. We are humanity. To use a metaphor: We go up the mountain, as it were (the Superconscious), so we can return to share our inspiration, love and will, knowing that humanity, the earth and cosmos exist together in a divine union. This is a reality on the spiritual level, but not yet on the physical. Assagioli recognized that different people reach different evolutionary stages at different times. It was important, he argued, to identify a child’s evolutionary level in his or her educational setting. (1960) He was also aware of the resistance to such an attitude: ”Another reason or pseudo-reason for the hostility… is a false concept of the equality of human beings and the democratic ideal… It seems...almost an insult to admit that there are people of a higher stature, psychologically and spiritually.” (Besmer, 1973)

According to the evolutionary perspective, we have all equal value as human beings, but our perspectives are not equally good. “Gender equality” is a more valuable perspective than male chauvinism or assertive feminism because it is concerned with the total welfare of humanity rather than that of a single sex. There is wider and deeper love in a desire for equality, and people who are driven by this value display a higher level of consciousness in this area.

Another way of illustrating these levels is through the idea of “holarchies”. As shown in the diagram these are wholes within wholes, where the body (1) is enclosed by emotions, the emotions (2) by thoughts (3), thoughts by the personality (4), and the personality by the soul (5). The Superconscious is also enclosed by the soul, and finally we have the universal Self (God) enclosing all. Spirit can be experienced both as a universal being (the blue field) and as a universal Self (a core). The Oval Diagram and Holarchies

Developmental Lines in Psychosynthesis

So far we have described the developmental stages of the self and the different needs with which the self identifies from the Preconscious to the Superconscious. Psychosynthesis theory also involves seven psychological functions, through which we experience and expresses the self. This allows for a much more nuanced and varied developmental theory, with each of the functions having their own unique developmental sequence.

The Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung spoke of four functions: feeling, thinking, sensing, and intuition. Assagioli included seven in his version. In ‘The Act of Will’, Assagioli explains the Psychological Functions using the Star Diagram. (1974, p. 13) We can think of the psychological functions as “abilities” we use during our journey through life. The self and the will form the center of the star out of which the psychological functions emanate, and through which they receive and transmit various energies.

(Continued on page 38)

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As the diagram shows, Psychosynthesis works with:

Will (7) Intuition (6) Thought (5) Fantasy (4) Passion (3) Feeling (2) Sensation (1)

We all share these psychological functions; through them we learn to master our lives. They are instruments of action through which the self manifests in The Star Diagram the world and seeks to understand the inner and outer worlds. At the center of the star is the observer, the silent awareness and being, the “Unmoved Mover,” in Aristotle’s words. From this silent center active forces emanate through the psychological functions, and manifest the current level of consciousness and intention of the self.

The will directs our energy through our intentions, choices and decisions. The will is the basic motivation setting everything else in motion, but we rarely notice it. Only with real self-awareness does the will become a true will and not simply unconscious desire. We make decisions with our will and our actions reveal our identifications. Feeling represents our sensitivity, our ability to sense and identify the quality of our psychological surroundings. It tells us what feels comfortable or uncomfortable. It responds to the external world and lets us know what is happening inside and outside ourselves.

Thought tell us what something is. It collects, organizes, categorizes and labels information, enabling us to assess impressions coming from other functions. Thought interprets our reality based on our knowledge and enables us to communicate with others through language.

Imagination is the ability to create highly evocative images. We use imagination to visualize reality as it could be. Such images influence our emotional and mental life, and so are as “real” as physical, “factual” reality.

Desire includes our instincts, drives, wishes, needs, attractions and repulsions. Desire moves us and makes things happen. There are many levels of desire, from the survival instinct to the passionate love of God.

Sensation involves the body and the senses. It enables the self to act in the physical world. The body anchors energies coming from the other psychological functions, and informs us of what is happening in the outside world and how it affects our body. Sensation and the body provide the energy and life force required to keep us healthy.

Intuition is mainly a Transpersonal function, according to Assagioli, but is available to us at all levels of consciousness. Intuition provides a direct insight into the whole, how we or a situation fits into the bigger picture. It provides direct access to the truth and conveys a sense of the interconnection of everything throughout the universe.

(Continued on page 39)

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Psychosynthesis aims to develop these psychological functions. As Assagioli writes, Psychosynthesis promotes "the development of the aspects of the personality which are either insufficient or inadequate." (1975, p. 29) Assagioli was concerned with "unbalanced development" and many of his techniques are aimed at strengthening the weaker psychological functions. (1975, p. 57)

In ‘The Act of Will’ Assagioli argues that the psychological functions develop hierarchically;¹ they can be weak or more highly evolved. In Maslow’s hierarchy the needs at the top of the pyramid are more complex, and represent a higher development than the basic needs further down. Assagioli does the same with the psychological functions: "The existence of different levels having different values is an evident and undeniable manifestation of the great law of evolution, as it progresses from simple and crude levels to more sophisticated and highly organized ones." (1974, p. 99) Applying this to love Assagioli's writes that "a love that is overpowering, possessive, jealous and blind is at a lower level than one that is tender and concerned with the person of the loved one... ". (1974, p. 99) The same applies to the other psychological functions. The developmental lines illustrate this law as they unfold from the bottom of the Egg Diagram up to the level of the soul. The psychological functions develop towards universality, with higher levels more inclusive than lower ones. Assagioli is aware that hierarchical ideas are not popular. On this he echoes C.G. Jung: "Jung rightly deplores this pseudo-humanitarian concept and false conception of democracy:" The desire to bring all people to the same level and reduce them to the status of sheep by suppressing the natural aristocratic and hierarchical structure (in the psycho-spiritual sense, be it well noted) leads inevitably, sooner or later, to a catastrophe." (1967b)

With the self's own development we have eight fundamental developmental lines. These do not develop equally, which illustrates the complex character of our development and shows why it does not proceed in a linear ladder-like way.

Ken Wilber has done a wonderful job illuminating this subject and the reader seeking a detailed study of these different stages and lines of devel- opment can find it in his book ‘Integral Psychology’.For example, we can be highly devel- oped cognitively, but less developed emotionally, or we may find it difficult to turn our ideas into action. The eight lines of the Egg Diagram relate directly to the development of the self, but other developmental lines represent various combina- tions of all the functions. Values, sexuality, aes- thetics have their own development, but space does not allow me to discuss this here.

In the diagram, we see a person’s self-line (5) developed to the level of rational self-awareness. His empathy, compassion (2) and idealism (7) are The Egg Diagram and the eight lines of development. (Continued on page 40) 1 Assagioli supports Maslow and Wilber’s notion that the structure of reality is hierarchical or holarchical. His use of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a clear example. He is referring to hierarchies several places in his work: 2007, s.173, 190, 192, 210, Keen 1975. 39 (Continued from page 39) also highly developed. If his self-line reaches into the level of the Superconscious, his experience of separateness from other people will dissolve. Our idealism may be highly developed - we may work for the welfare of animals or the rain forest - but our sense of self may not yet reach the level of unity consciousness.

Let me briefly describe the developmental lines of the self and three of the psychological functions. The developmental line of the self (5) expresses the level of consciousness (breadth and height) within and outside the Egg Diagram. It determines our center of gravity and on what stage we have our anchor of identification, how much we can observe and include of reality from body- to superconscious awareness. Through meditation the self awakens to an enormous inner landscape of energies. Awareness meditation, which involves dis- identification from the content of consciousness, is an important tool in this development. The will develops by making deliberate, conscious decisions. Before this, we are driven by instincts, security and adaptation needs. At the personal level the will is oriented towards success and the power to control one’s life. When motivated by the good will of the Superconscious we develop the skill to create harmony and synthesis in the world. We can gather people, organizations and nations around charitable and humanistic values that unite the world.

By strengthening the feeling function we develop our sensitivity, empathy and the space and strength needed to emotionally contain the world around us. Here we develop our understanding, both horizontally in becoming more inclusive of other people, but also vertically by lifting our feelings to the level of the Superconscious where they can express impersonal, universal and unconditional love. Emotional development provides the strength and inner space needed to contain destructive, heavy and painful emotions.

Thinking relates to our level of understanding and the different perspectives from which we are able to perceive reality. This includes understanding our external social context - our family and the world community - as well as the cultural values that shape our conscious- ness. "Vertically" this means broadening our perspectives to understand our place in the cosmos and the ocean of energy of which we are a part. This relates to the quality of our interpretations of reality, how integral we are and how many perspectives we include in our awareness of it.

In ‘A Psychology with a Soul,’ Jean Hardy offers an alternative model of development, which is also hierarchical. For her the self develops through the stages of “body”, “feelings”, “thought” and finally “soul”. (See Illustration). This shows how multifaceted the development theory of psychosynthesis has become.

One element of our theory of development remains to be discussed: our relation to the Collective Unconscious, the area outside the Egg Diagram which we share with all of humanity and creation. (Continued on page 41)

40 (Continued from page 40)

The Collective Unconscious

The Collective Unconscious consists of differ- ent ontological levels of reality and frequen- cies of energy that we share with all creation. According to this theory, the various levels of consciousness are not created by repressions as some thinkers suggest, although we may repress our conscious access to it. Assagioli speaks of what the great scholar Huston Smith (1976), calls "the Great Chain of Being". They are “the various levels of reality or energy fields” which for Assagioli forms “an essential part of Psychosynthesis." (Undated 2)

The majority of the spiritual traditions (Smith, 1976) embrace a hierarchical or holarchical structure of existence. In the diagram,¹ we see how this reality has been recognized by the great mystics and seers of the majority of the world religions.

This idea is also part of the perennial philosophy, which views each of the world’s religious traditions as sharing a single, universal truth. Ken Wilber refers to a number of contemporary thinkers who share the same perspective. The Great Chain of Being came into existence with the creation of the cosmos. This posits not only a material world – which may have come about through a Big Bang - but also a number of inner worlds created through the involution of the spirit, mentioned in Chapter I. Assagioli shares this view and he writes (2007, p. 84):

“The third group of symbols, a frequently occurring one, is that of elevation, ascent or conquest of the ‘inner space’ in an ascending sense. There are a series of inner worlds, each with its own special characteristics, and within each of them there are higher levels and lower levels. Thus in the first of these, the world of passions and feelings, there is a great distance, a marked disparity of level, between blind passion and the highest feelings. Then there is the world of intelligence, or the mind. Here too are different levels: the level of the concrete analytical mind, and the level of higher, philosophical reason (nous). There is also the world of the imagination, a lower variety and a higher variety, the world of intuition, the world of the will, and higher still, those indescribable worlds which can only be referred to by the term ‘worlds of transcendence’”.

The diagram below provides a basic outline of these inner worlds. My article ‘Psychosynthesis and Panentheism’ (Sørensen, 2015), includes many quotes from Assagioli relevant to this discussion. The diagram shows various hierarchies or holarchies where higher worlds transcend and include lower worlds, and can also be seen as a model of Jung’s Collective Unconscious. As Assagioli remarks: "The collective unconscious is a vast world stretching from the biological to the spiritual level, in which therefore distinctions of origin, nature, quality and value must be made." (1967b)

1 The Great Chain in various Wisdom Traditions, compiled by Huston Smith (graphic layout courtesy of (Continued on page 42) Brad Reynolds).

41 (Continued from page 41)

The diagram illustrates how the self, with the rest of humanity, must journey through the different worlds to return to its spiritual source. This journey begins with the unification of the self and the soul, and continues with the Universal Self. The imagination is a synthesising function, which operates on several levels simultane- ously: sensation, feeling, thinking and intuition. (1975, p. 143)

This concludes my survey of the theory of devel- opment. My description of the different stages has been necessarily brief; the reader is encour- aged to pursue the references given in this chap- ter.

We now turn to the seven core concepts in Psychosynthesis, beginning with dis-identifica- tion, but let us conclude with a striking appeal from Assagioli.

”I make a cordial appeal to all therapists, psychol- ogists and educators to actively engage in the needed work of research, experimentation and application. Let us feel and obey the urge aroused by the great need of healing the serious ills which at present are affecting humanity; let us realize the contribution we can make to the creation of a new civilization characterized by an harmonious integration and cooperation, pervaded by the spirit of synthesis.” (Assagioli, 1975, p. 9) ◙

Notes:

Assagioli, Roberto, 1967b, Jung and Psychosynthesis, Psychosynthesis Research Foundation. Issue No. 19 Assagioli, Roberto, 1974, The Act of Will, Turnstone Press Assagioli, Roberto, 1975, Psychosynthesis, Turnstone Press Assagioli, Roberto, 2007, Transpersonal Development, Inner Way Productions Assagioli, Roberto, Undated 2, Talks on the Self, (Handed out from The Psychosynthesis and Education Trust, London) Besmer, Beverly, Height Psychology: Discovering the self and the Self, Interpersonal Development, 4, 1973-4, pp. 215-225 Smith Huston, 1976, Forgotten Truth: The common Vision of the Worlds Religions, Harper San Francisco Sørensen, Kenneth, 2008, Integral Psychosynthesis: a comparison of Wilber and Assagioli Sørensen, Kenneth, 2015, Psychosynthesis and Evolutionary Panentheism Visser, Frank, 1998 Transpersonal Psychology at a Crossroad, http://www.integralworld.net/esseng2.html (20.5.2008)

Kenneth Sørensen holds an MA in Psychosynthesis from The Psychosynthesis and Education Trust and a four-year Diploma in Psychosynthesis psychotherapy. Through his company, Kentaur Training and Publishing, he works with Psychosynthesis in Denmark and Scandinavia. He works as a psychotherapist, lecturer, author and writer, and a spiritual teacher. He is the Academic Director of the Norwegian Institute of Psychosynthesis, and is the author of several books about esoteric philosophy and meditation.

This article has not been edited for this reprinting, only re-formatted. The complete book from which this chapter is taken is available at Amazon

42 Poem by LauraLee Clinchard leaving my body i fall up away from Mother Earth

watch Her astounding beauty

impressionistic splendor dancing fingers of clouds and light chase one another across rippling prairies and mountain valleys blue shadows climb tawny, rounded slopes of hills like hands molding the shape of a lover’s thighs

emerald islands float in sapphire oceans unbroken circles of rainbows weave themselves between curtains of rain forests densely steaming orchids climb release damp musk scent

Pele pours liquid fire from her womb blankets black fields of lava rock and alpine flowers with fresh blood snow covered mountains become shining temples where prayer wheels turn (into mists of) prayer flags flutter (snow covered mountains)

heart beats of drums breathe me alive

Father Sky splits open in a river of white light and thunderous sound and

i fall into Him (Continued on page 44)

43 (Continued from page 43)

Pachu Mama becomes a brilliant gem of turquoise and malachite among Milky Way diamonds strewn on cobalt velvet

i push the boundaries of the heavens and the stars

i s t r e t c h and the firmaments e x p a n d

bypassing iridescent nebulae mouths of wormholes sparkling galaxies

great wings carry me into utter

Peace

LauraLee Clinchard first studied a bit of Psychosynthesis in 1978-79 during her undergraduate work in California, and completed certification and teacher training at the Psychosynthesis Institute of Minnesota, with Dennis Wynne, Mary Ondov and others, in the late 1980s and 90s, and moved to Nebraska in 2000. She is a licensed mental health practitioner (LIMHP), working as a psychotherapist in a small private specialty practice for trauma and dissociative disorders.

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45 ASSAGIOLI ON NATIONAL AFFAIRS

“The study of a nation as a living entity is very illuminating and from it we can draw many practical deductions and rules for action. The first fact revealed by such a study—a fact which should not shock us, but rather be regarded as a source of reasonable optimism, for it explains and justifies many things—is that the "personality" of each nation is still at a stage corresponding to the troublesome pre-puberty age, or if more advanced, to adolescence. It is the stage at which the boy or girl is reaching an initial degree of personal self-consciousness; and its early demonstrations generally take an uncontrolled and exuberant form of separative and aggressive self-assertion...

Moreover, at present the particular cycles of each nation are subordinate to a larger cycle involving the entire planet. This cycle marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. It thus involves a psychological rejuvenation of humanity accompanied by the eruption of elementary, primitive, barbaric forces...

In spite of all contrasts, all oppositions and all negative appearances, the principle of interdependence, of solidarity, of cooperation, of brotherhood—that is, of synthesis—is rapidly gaining recognition. An increasing number of men and women are animated by the will to implement it, and are actively working within different groups and in all fields, outwardly unorganized but inwardly closely connected by a common dedication to the same purpose: the psychosynthesis of Humanity.”

—from Roberto Assagioli’s article Psychosynthesis: individual and social (some suggested lines of research) published in 1965 and available as ID# pub 67 at http://aap-psychosynthesis.org/wp-content/uploads/individual_and_social.pdf

—submitted by Marjorie Gross

46 PSYCHOSYNTHESIS AT SCHOOL 1964-1981 The First Experiment Isabelle C. Küng

WHAT IT TOOK TO PROCEED FROM AN ORDINARY SCHOOL TO AN EXTRA-ORDINARY SCHOOL WHERE THE ART OF LIVING IN HARMONY WITH ONESELF IS PART OF THE CURRICULUM

SUMMING UP

Dorette Andrée Faillettaz (previously Küng by marriage), was the founder of Institut Bleu Léman, a privately owned international boarding school for girls and young women 10 to 20 years of age. She was eager to provide good instruction to her pupils, who stayed an average of one or two years in the school, away from their families. It was important to her that her pupils be successful when sitting for the examinations (mainly CEEB, Cambridge “O”, “A” Levels, “First Certificate, and Alliance Française): this is why they attended Bleu- Léman. But she thought: “What is the point of being brilliant in academic studies, and yet live a miserable personal and inner life, tossed like a leaf in the wind?” She was therefore eager to provide her pupils with means to educate themselves—that is, to awaken the inner teacher, discover their inner freedom and learn to use it with discernment, so as to be able to face the vicissitudes of Life with a “sportive, joyous and fair-play attitude.” This ideal meant that she had to turn her ordinary school into an extra-ordinary school … helping the gifted to blossom as humans, but in such a way as to avoid the pitfalls of excellence, no matter how desirable excellence certainly may be in matters of self-esteem and motor-force!

This article and these pictures are about how she achieved her first goal with the cooperation of life circumstances, her family, and Dr. Roberto Assagioli.

However, before entering into the heart of this subject, it must be mentioned that she had many other projects. One, which she indeed carried out later, was to create a second international school, specializing in the arts of managing an upper-class household, including etiquette and “savoir-vivre” (good manners). But although I participated in setting it up, as my mother’s employee, that is not the subject of this article. Let it simply be mentioned that she named this second—parallel—creation: Institut Villa Pierrefeu (IVP) and that it was, and still is, situated in Glion above Montreux. It may be relevant to mention, for it throws a complementary light on the present topic, that as regards IVP, she considered that executing outer action (like managing a household) in a harmonious way necessarily reflects—at least as long as it lasts—on the personality and character of the one who masters it. And that’s how it works for the great majority!

Yes, looking back I can today say that this personality-centered approach, relying on outer action, namely: knowing how to do, with the hope of influencing the inner core (thus becoming ‘that’ at least on the level of appearances), does make sense to a certain point. Indeed, it may, when non-harmful knowhow is imparted, add value, but on the ground of volatile personality matters. In his book The Act of Will, where the psychological laws that govern the psychic metabolism are exposed, Assagioli addressed this issue. Though the personality-centered way of handling matters may indeed prepare the ground, it certainly does not replace the more specific approach consisting in focusing on learning the means of inner action. Here, you understand who you are by experiencing being-ness and build yourself a harmonious character to be able to exercise in a comprehensive and dispassionate manner the skills that must be learned to work in a given field of action. That might be managing your own life, or your relations to the “other” (the manifold outer worlds that mirror our various inner worlds), or managing a household or a business. This includes taking morally appropriate risks.

(Continued on page 48)

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Introduction: portrait of an Idealist!

Dorette Andrée Faillettaz was born in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1911 to a journalist mother and a telegraphist father. She was the third of five daughters. She went to school there and was therefore directly exposed to the pros and cons of the educational system of her time (Zeitgeist). This, and her personal disposition to “live life more abundantly,” induced her to rethink the “system” again, and again, and yet again!

Her main dream was to devote her life to bringing to the awareness of educators that education is life’s means for revealing and bringing to blossom the LOVE which sub-stands— that is under-stands (supports)— and in-spires; thus breathes ALL THAT IS into existence.

1. She considered that investing one’s best attention and means to this approach was one of the most efficient manners of creating the appropriate conditions to ensure meaningful success in Life, and have the opportunity to bypass its contrary. She resented meaningless success as being the cause of these awfully time-consuming small and big conflicts that pollute everyday life and postpone everyone’s ability to find their own true Self—the Being they feel they really are—and live a harmonious life worth living.

2. She found, the hard way, that instruction—rather than fostering the process of blossoming life’s essential qualities which everyone, without exception, is born with—is more often (mis)used to suffocate it. This rivalry (and confusion) between education and instruction caused her great inner pain … and probably fueled her passion to reconcile them! She held instruction, as well as education, in great esteem, considering them to symbolically be like the two hands needed to work.

3. She realized that it is a prerequisite to acknowledge the qualities inherent in the innermost of a person’s heart, and then provide her with the adequate means that help bring them to the fore (educere) so that these qualities may find expression in everyday life events. Everyday life is the field par excellence where the inner qualities (spiritual knowhow!) can truly serve in the form of a. pacifying and dynamic attitudes, b. harmonious relations to others (humans and creation), and c. the ability to transmute conflicts and tensions knowingly, rather than eliminate them hastily or nastily, one way or the other. This implies accepting that tensions are necessary, precisely to exercise this ‘transmuting competency’ which is the hallmark of a conscious human being.

4. As regards point 3c, she had seen that transmutation of conflicts, even if it takes more time and attention, is far more gratifying, and lasting, than ruthless elimination (like wars or other means to get rid of living forms, obstacles or problems). Everyone knows that suppression only serves to breed the ‘crisis-causing factor’ underground and empower it. Who needs, so as to remain “on the move” and awake, to create more enemies and tensions than one already has? Thus the old elimination-reflex is to be replaced by the reflex-to-transmute (or sublimate). In this she was a forerunner, for only now has humanity begun to acknowledge that this reorientation of “the direction of the vital interest” (replace elimination with transmutation) is a major issue for human survival.

5. Finally, she had also recognized that WILL is necessarily the energy fueling LOVE, and that those who just followed their attractions, mistaking them for love, actually ended up being addicted to them, living in the illusion of not being addicted to them. The personality-ego is most resourceful when it comes to justifying the opposite of what is obvious to the intuition and to the spiritual Ego… She noticed that these people ferociously opposed the idea of WILL being the (secret) seed of LOVE; they most ably defended the thesis that only ‘spontaneous’ feelings could be sincere. Therefore, from their point of view, the proposition that “to will-to-love is the key to true LOVE and essential freedom” was just a make-believe strategy. However, they did see LOVE as the heart of truth… She wrestled with this for many years. And although the latter position did make sense to her, especially in her younger (Continued on page 49)

48 (Continued from page 48)

years, Life slowly brought her to value the benefits that stand behind WILL-inspired-LOVE. Undoubtedly, the delusions and (literally) dis-enchantments one inevitably meets each time a new light is cast on a relationship also helped her shift her opinion. One might meet these in a personal relation, in the family, in the professional sphere or in social Life, or just as regards material things. She got to appreciate, in matters of human relations, the wonderful sense of liberation love brings when it is nurtured by will. That is when it is neither adulterated by possessiveness nor held a prisoner by selfishness. This is, ultimately, the more subtle form into which human, personal and possessive love transmutes itself … in the course of Time.

6. Of course misinterpretation of this point of view, as regards the genuine ‘sincerity’ of will-inspired-love, sometimes led her to misunderstand others and be misunderstood … but her quest was fundamentally honest, and somehow fearless too, and Life (maybe therefore?) always got her back on track!

It does so for all of us. Sometimes in disguise!

The facts – how the ‘transmutation’ from ordinary to extra-ordinary occurred

Thus by 1954—please note the year—Life circumstances finally made it happen that she, as a divorced mother of two girls, a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old (me, Isabelle Clotilde and my elder sister, Viviane Elisabeth), could concretize the dream of her life. That was to help the younger generations of women, the future mothers of the humanity in the becoming, to understand the essence of education, LOVE being its perfume and WILL (of course spiritual) constituting its hidden roots.

That year she founded—with nothing to begin with except providential help—a privately owned international boarding school for girls.

Her dream was coming true….

But soon she found that in order to convey her realization—or, in order to transmit her flame to her pupils—words and good intentions, no matter how good, were certainly most useful, but ultimately also would lead to dependence…. Her pupils loved her and appreciated her inspiring guidance, but they depended on it. She was quite flattered, but vanity was not her cup of tea! She clearly saw that this affectionate dependency was the opposite of the core of what she wanted to convey to her pupils, namely that LOVE sets you free.… the opposite of what the majority warns us from, yet longs for, in matters of inter-individual relations! With dire consequences, and unending misunderstandings.… How could she, she was asking herself, convey the glorious idea hidden behind the kaleidoscope of illusions that keep said majority in thrall?

So she reflected and searched for appropriate tools that would address the issue from an angle as neutral, but also as dynamic and pragmatic, as possible. They had to be psychological tools because the student body of the school were from a variety of religious backgrounds, including agnostics (believers without denomination) and atheists (believers in no-thing); therefore, no religion could be even mentioned—despite the fact that each approach to the spiritual, inner life does provide some tools. They had to be psychological tools, because given that the causative factor of any outer action and behavior lies in the psyche, it is on the inner, spiritual side of our life, that the (existential) issues need to be addressed—not with “beliefs” (not even scientific dogmas!), but simply through right use of the mental competencies that happen to be the tools for working with the psyche. Paraphrasing the preamble of the constituting act of UNESCO, she knew that it is these competencies, namely thinking, feeling, intuiting, willing, desiring, imagining, that tailor all the actions we do: be it war or peace. She knew that therefore it is by the understanding and the right use of these competencies that we can re-create and transform our predispositions, our gifts, our potential … and keep in thrall what keeps us in thrall! This knowledge had been stated in the mid-40s … and it was stressed again in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights … so why had no method appeared so far to turn these vital theoretical statements of facts into practical means of fostering harmony amongst people and nations?

(Continued on page 50)

49 (Continued from page 49)

So Dorette Faillettaz felt it was imperative to find those tools that could pave the way to this vision/understanding she had: namely, the relation between EDUCATION, LOVE, and WILL: the core of human dignity! She was also on the look-out for methods that trigger psychic or physical side effects!!! She instinctively felt that “right motive is oft deflected by wrong method” (old oriental wisdom) and really wished to find the right method.

She found and tried a few … and we helped in testing one I remember, a “reflex-conditioning method!” She gave it up when the student that had benefited from that method switched from crying day and night to laughing all the time!

Where was the method that would be both efficient and harmless? If it existed!

In the meantime, she used the one she knew best: talking her pupils into loving understanding, tolerance, international thinking (for some time IBL became an associated school of UNESCO), and into keeping studying so as to be successful in the official examinations the team of teachers prepared them for; for after all, if this aim was achieved, the parents who invested a lot for that, would be satisfied!

After four years building the good reputation of her school, Life circumstances again popped up with a hint!

It happened that in 1960 an acquaintance asked Dorette Faillettaz whether she could host for a week an international meeting of psychologists and educators during the school holidays. She immediately sensed the opportunity to discover new avenues to respond to her quest and replied with an enthusiastic “yes.” Then she asked, “But are they competent and responsible people?” She remembered the episode induced by the ‘reflex-conditioning method’ where a student had gone from unceasing tears to laughing fits.

And so on August 24, 1960, Dr. Roberto Assagioli, his wife Nella, and his secretary Ida Palombi arrived in Solange van Berchem’s car, and during a few days people like Dr. Jean Guilhot (founder of the first Psychosynthesis center in Paris), Robert Desoille (directed daydream), François de Jessé, Paul Diel (motivation psychology), Dr. Mastropaolo, Dr. Triant Triantafyllou (Ministry of education in Athens), Dr. François Ledoux (Méthode Vittoz), Edouard Berge, and Lanfranchi joined Assagioli and his vice-president Gabriello Cirinei for the talks, while the public, like Mlles. Suzanne Nouvion, Jacqueline de Chevron-Villette (antroposynthèse), Giuliana Contini, Paolo Bassano, and others participated to the most animated debates….

As for me, I was just allowed to listen; and as I had a brand new Leica, my mother asked me to take a picture of Assagioli.

Dorette Faillettaz, was really interested by the variety of the methods presented and the inclusive attitude of Assagioli, especially as it was an attitude of spiritual inclusiveness, not uniformity. No doubt his non-offensive, efficient, and user-friendly method of self-actualization and realization of the Self (as Assagioli would ‘formulate it’ in the Manual he would publish five years later), or self-education, was what she had been looking for.

She wrote to Assagioli to ask him whether he would give talks to the Fédération Suisse des Ecoles Privées (FSEP) and conferences to her pupils too. On Jan 28, 1961, Assagioli declined in the following manner, worth quoting for it shows to the extent (and not without a touch of humor) he would make the difference, in the minutest details, between himself and his personality (body and emotional/mental equipment):

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“As to your invitation to give talks to the Federation of Directors of Private Institutes and to your pupils, it is very attractive, but I must remind myself that my body is 73 years old and I must spare it as much as possible! I cannot impose on it additional activities and travels, on top of those that I have the obligation to inflict on it to the limits of its strength due to numerous commitments which I have already taken for the next months (articles to various magazines, revision of other writings, a series of conferences in Florence, etc.). I therefore beg you to forgive me, or rather, to excuse it!” [Translated by the author from French, a language Assagioli spoke fluently]

In 1961 my mother, Dorette Andrée Faillettaz, hosted another International Week of Psychosynthesis, this one from Sept. 1 to 7, at Institut Bleu-Léman in Villeneuve (Switzerland). Assagioli and his team arrived directly from Vienna, where he had given a key address at the Congress of Psychotherapy: “Psychosynthesis and Existential Psychotherapy.” Therein he emphasizes some of the most important principles of his method, namely

“1. To proceed from within, that is from the self of the patient; 2. To take the process of individual development and growth into due consideration; 3. To search for the meaning of Life; 4. Recognition of the higher values, and 5. Emphasis upon the future.”

During the 1961 Week at Bleu Léman, many of the same attendants as in 1960 were joined by others, like Florence Garrigue, Tilla Grenier, Ludovica Hainisch-Marchet, and Hubert Cuypers, Dr. Robert Gérard, Ignace Lepp, Dane Rudhyar, and Dr. Paul Tournier. Francesca Piani Boesch wrote a noteworthy summary of this week.

As I recall, the main subject of discussions was aimed at understanding that the spiritual Self or Reality is an experience (it escapes “limited and limitative” definitions). Too often searchers, earnest searchers, interpret spiritual realities in terms of personality matters…

Allow me a precision: to use personality-terminology to describe spiritual, that is, invisible, realities like thoughts was acceptable in Ancient Greece. Then this approach aimed at bringing the spiritual realities, that is the energies at work in the universe, was brought down to earth, thus within the reach of understanding of the humanity of that Epoch. Presenting these more subtle, intense and inner energies as having a somewhat human form “out there” (e.g., Athena, Goddess of culture in times of peace) enabled the population to identify to these ‘invisible energies,’ and induced them to personify them, feel and incarnate their characteristics and act them out: it was a means to help the people develop a distinct personality. At that time, this approach was appropriate, because the emphasis was—and needed to be—personality-centered. Today (21st century) the emphasis has been on altruism and awareness of the Group and various groups … a realization that is only possible if and when the personality-centered stage has been duly assimilated, which implies that the ‘invisible’ energies have been qualified and are acted out without harming.

In any case, it was not easy during the debates to make it understandable that the personal self is but the reflection of the transpersonal Self, and therefore has no reality of its own (as depicted by R.A.’s “egg” diagram), save that of serving as training tool and at the same time ground for the mental unit to ‘gain’ the spiritual competencies needed to tailor, wave-in and manage its ‘relative unrealities,’ so as to testify or rather reflect the inner Reality outwardly, and also work out the vaster ‘vision’ this Reality conveys. Big discussions! Nourished further by the “cosmic vision of Père P. Teilhard de Chardin,” presented by Hubert Cuypers! He emphasized the need for a blossoming of the psychic (spiritual) energies, thus converging perfectly with Assagioli’s point of view that considers Psychosynthesis as the “Science of psychic (spiritual) energies.” But words are only the ambassadors of the mental dimension where time is not, therefore they fly … and what matters, once the words have played their inspiring role, is training: Yes, training is that which accomplishes! And this—both words and tools—was what the director and founder of Institut Bleu-Léman was looking for, for her pupils.

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By now Dorette Faillettaz definitely wanted to know more. She traveled, with me, down to Capolona to visit theAssagioli-Ciapettis. We stayed at La Nussa, visited the hill and grounds where later Villa Ilario would be built. We also visited La Verna Monastery where Saint Francis had resided. This gives me the opportunity to quote the passage worth pondering upon, about Assagioli, written in the 30s, by Frank Vanderlip in his book What Next in Europe (pp. 152-153):

“I met in Florence a man who left me thinking of him, after a few days of acquaintance, as something of a modern Saint Francis. He has none of the accoutrement of that Saintly Monk, but I believe that he has a good deal of the spirit that made Saint Francis live. There seemed to me to burn in this man the pure flame of a love of justice and humanity. Roberto Assagioli is his name. A talk with him on a moonlight balcony overlooking the Arno was one of the incidents I shall best remember in this whole European trip. It was in deep contrast with the bitter comment on conditions and Life I heard from so many people in other countries. He seemed to have a calm and serene understanding of the causes of the troubles of the world and a sensible apprehension of where materialism is leading the world. He expressed such a cheerful hopefulness that a better road is at hand if the world will but take it. If I am not mistaken this man has the sort of human goodness that has characterized other men who have initiated great moral movements which had small beginnings. If I were asked to indicate precisely what he has accomplished or is proposing to accomplish, any statement that I could make would not be expressive: nevertheless, I was impressed.” (Emphases added.)

We also were impressed by our stay at La Nussa. And after some time, my mother and Assagioli made a decision based on several considerations. He could not come in person to teach the pupils of Institut Bleu Léman this method which she now considered as worth including into the curriculum. Also, she had to stay there to manage the school. By now I too was interested and recognized that I certainly needed to take that training for myself to begin with. Since my sister was an honor student at UCLA, well … “if” possible, I would be sent to Florence to learn the method. After six month’s weekly sessions and attending Assagioli’s weekly courses to the young, and conferences, I would begin practicing a few exercises with the pupils of the school (to start)….

From then on (and until 1974), every year I spent a month in Florence, residing as a guest at Via San Domenico 14 (now headquarters of the Società Italiana di Psicosintesi Terapeutica or SIPT), learning what I could and reporting about my experiences of teaching the method.

In 1965 Dorette Faillettaz hosted yet another International Psychosynthesis meeting. It was the seventh (according to the chronology of the Istituto, before Ida rearranged it).

There were more attendees—clearly the next conferences would have to be held at a larger place. Nevertheless the atmosphere was as usual most friendly, and the talks most interesting, with speakers from North and South America, England, France, Germany, India, and Italy. Participants were numerous. Assagioli gave three addresses: 1. on cooperation (1965 being the “year of cooperation”), 2. various ways of educating the particularly gifted, and 3. Freud, Jung and Psychosynthesis. The French psychiatrist, Dr. Henri Baruk, spoke about “La Chitamnie,” meaning, if my memory is correct: establishing more humane relations with patients in psychiatric asylums by awakening their sense of trust and of “justness” (TZEDEK in Hebrew).

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My training went on, Gabriello Cirinei spent a summer with us to talk to our teachers on education and to translate, with me, from the Italian to the French a few selected lessons of Assagioli. Year in, year out, I worked most of the time at the school. I also taught etiquette and flower arrangements. But mostly I taught Psychosynthesis—now more specifically, and to all the pupils. But remember that we were in the 60s, in Europe, in pretty conservative Switzerland, and I was only a young adult. There was an advantage speaking the same language as the pupils, but it meant also that I could not take their acceptance for granted. I therefore decided to designate the imparted subject-matter by the terms:

A. the ‘anatomy and physiology’ of the healthy psyche, and B. the techniques and adequate exercises to harmonize the personality’s potential.

With this wording, the pupils instantly understood that “Psychosynthesis classes” with Madame Isabelle referred to familiar concepts: “I, me and myself – be happy!”

And in 1966 I got married. In 1970 we bought Bleu-Léman, where I went on teaching Assagioli’s method seven hours per week to classes of six pupils each, administer the school, and also became mother of two: Claude-Emanuel H. and Sara-Gabrielle I.

Conclusion

Dorette Faillettaz’s quest had been completed. From dream it became a reality. A means of giving to the pupils a non-offensive psychological tool to educate their character was integrated into the curriculum of the school, transmuting it from an “ordinary” to an “extra-ordinary” school, one might say! She wanted it, Assagioli responded with the appropriate means, and I was fortunate enough to be helped to “do the job”…. Thus learn!

We owe much gratitude to Dorette Faillettaz for her open mind and courage to innovate in a wise manner, in line with her motto "Confiance – Ethique – Réalisation”: Trust – Ethics – Accomplishment

She knew the motor-value of words, a point Assagioli describes in his article of (1967/8): The Technique of Evocative Words (available on line at AAP).

As you see, it is actually easy to turn an ordinary school into an extra-ordinary school, simply by including within the normal program of instruction, free of charge (as was the case in our school in the school year), the means to educate oneself to live in harmony with oneself, and by reflex-action, with others.

Dr. Assagioli too followed and supported this experiment with attention: it was the first time that his method of self-actualization and realization of the Self was put to the test (for 17 years), and became part of the curriculum of a privately owned international school: Institut Bleu- Léman in Villeneuve, Switzerland.

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I am most indebted to him for having made this possible by his generous sharing of his competencies and his trust in me and all of us involved in the experiment, especially Gabriello Cirinei, Ida Palombi and lovely Nella who mothered me.

Additional information

In a parallel development, my sister Viviane, who came back from the US and also got married, bought Villa Pierrefeu in Glion (www.ivpworld.com) the model finishing school Dorette Faillettaz had also founded as the accomplishment of another of her dreams. It is still operating and Viviane gave it a wider dimension!

And Institut Bleu-Léman? Well, when the building was sold in 1981 by its owners (we only owned the school) I turned the school itself into a “bureau at the service of education.” And for a while the Swiss Red Cross rented the place to test an ideal formula to house refugees, asylum seekers…. Then the building was transformed by its new owners (an insurance company) into apartments for sale … with a beautiful view over Lake Léman and the Castle of Chillon.

And I now live in Geneva, busy with cultural matters and writing.◙

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